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Scholarship app Scholly<\/a> recently made a big announcement: Education lender SLM Corp, better known as Sallie Mae<\/a>, is acquiring its key assets for an undisclosed amount. That includes Scholly\u2019s app, scholarship administration technology and Scholly Offers, a platform that matches users with strategic partners to help them earn cash back.<\/p>\n Christopher Gray<\/p>\n <\/fbs-accordion>Anthony Wright<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \u201cThis will allow us to do what it would have required my raising tens of millions of dollars to do on my own,\u201d says Scholly founder Christopher Gray.<\/p>\n Launched about eight years ago, Scholly matches students looking for private scholarship money with likely scholarships, helping them earn more than $100 million in financial aid so far, according to the company. The app also includes such features as an AI-powered proofreader.<\/p>\n For Gray, the acquisition will provide the ability to expand the business. In addition, Sallie Mae will make Scholly, which used to cost $2.99 a month, free for all users. \u201cOur priority is creating more scholarship opportunities,\u201d says Gray. \u201cImagine all the partnerships we\u2019ve done\u2014We\u2019re just going to continue that on steroids.\u201d<\/p>\n In recent years, Scholly has formed a variety of partnerships with everyone from Amazon to rapper Lil Nas X. In 2022, for example, it teamed up with Google to create a $10,000 scholarship for women from marginalized communities of color in tech. Earlier that year, the company joined forces with entrepreneur and author Bryce Thompson to offer Thompson\u2019s second $100,000 scholarship\u201410 $10,000 awards given to 10 students.<\/p>\n Users can search the app for scholarships using multiple parameters, such as state, GPA and major. They then get a description of the scholarship, how much money is given away and the deadline for applying, among other information.<\/p>\n Donna Vieira<\/p>\n <\/fbs-accordion>Sallie Mae<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n For Sallie Mae, the acquisition is part of an effort to position itself as what Donna Vieira, executive vice president and chief commercial officer calls, \u201can education solutions company.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s very aligned with our mission,\u201d she says. The move follows Sallie Mae\u2019s acquisition of the assets of education technology firm Nitro College<\/a> in 2022. Scholly will be part of Sallie Mae\u2019s education line of business, which says Vieira, \u201cis focused on producing products and tools and content to engage students and families on this journey to and through higher education.\u201d<\/p>\n The son of a struggling single mother, Gray couldn\u2019t afford to attend college. So, he decided to apply for private scholarships to college, eventually earning $1.3 million in awards from such places as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. He attended Drexel University, studying finance and entrepreneurship, and, while there, decided not to waste all the scholarship acumen he\u2019d developed. So he created an app that would help other students looking for aid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe Ability to Scale<\/strong><\/h2>\n