Project Overview:


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For the Student: UnBroke offers students technology products and professional services that will reduce college tuition costs.
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For the Negotiator: UnBroke opens up doors to help students get into college and thereby creates a marketplace for individuals to create value for themselves.
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For the College: UnBroke pioneers new channels of communication so that colleges connect with the students they're looking for.
The power of negotiation is crucial, hence the creation of UnBroke: an organization that either provides expert negotiators or educates individuals close to the student to negotiate down the cost of tuition. Based on an understanding of the student's story (academic history, community, financial background, etc.) negotiators are empowered to represent the students effectively and decrease the tuition price.

Check out ~30 pages in the following Google Docs to further explore our idea's user journeys, personas, business model roll-out, business model revenue drivers, research, and prototype iterations:
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Personas and User Journey (8 pages): Please click on the following Google Doc for a detailed description of the various users of UnBroke as well as a more in-depth look at the User Journey beyond what is provided above.
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Business Model Roll-out (5 pages): Please click on the following Google Doc for an expansive, overview of the 4 phases and their various goals, timing, and investments needed to unfurl UnBroke as early as this coming March.
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Business Model Revenue (4 pages + 1 spreadsheet): Input will be generated from 5 identified streams explained further in the following Google Doc utilizing data from this Google Sheet for the Finder's Fee revenue calculations.
- Prototype Iterations and User Research (10 pages): Examples of our multiple prototype iterations for the UnBroke Homepage and UnBroke Scorecard as well as user research can be found in this Google Doc. The final iteration of the UnBroke Homepage can be found here.

Further Applications of UnBroke
- UnBroke's open-source API could provide comprehensive and rich datasets that illuminate opportunities within the higher ed ecosystem.
- UnBroke could issue college negotiator certificates as continuing education opportunities for adults in a myriad of industries.
- UnBroke could improve the college payment process by acting as a short-term financial intermediary and issuing microloans.
- UnBroke could build an additional marketplace of tuition donors that sponsor individuals on a charitable giving basis.
- Why not make colleges apply to students? Through UnBroke, we could do just that.

Resources:
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/four-tough-things-universities-should-do-to-rein-in-costs/2015/11/25/64fed3de-92c0-11e5-a2d6-f57908580b1f_story.html
- http://www.pellinstitute.org/downloads/fact_sheets-6-Year_DAR_for_Students_Post-Secondary_Institution_121411.pdf
- http://givingusa.org/giving-usa-2015-press-release-giving-usa-americans-donated-an-estimated-358-38-billion-to-charity-in-2014-highest-total-in-reports-60-year-history/
- http://nccs.urban.org/nccs/statistics/Charitable-Giving-in-America-Some-Facts-and-Figures.cfm
- http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-charities-can-get-more-out-of-donors-1418598068
- http://www.chicagobooth.edu/capideas/magazine/winter-2014/why-do-we-give
- http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2014/09/22/is-the-college-admissions-bubble-about-to-burst
- https://thenounproject.com (depicted icons)
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Lauren Brown