About The Finance Lab
760 students. One counselor.
California's counselor-to-student ratio is 1 to 760. One counselor cannot build 760 personalized college plans, so most students make the biggest financial decision of their lives with almost no preparation.
What we do about it
The College Project puts the worksheet work in each student's hands: real prices, real aid, real outcomes, and a plan they wrote themselves. Counselors keep the relationship. The book does the personalization.
How students decide before enrollment predicts their outcomes after it (Public Agenda, 2009).
“Nobody in my family has gotten this far in education. These chapters made me realize that everyone has a chance to go to college regardless of their background.”
Who we serve
Our resources are built for every student, in every kind of classroom. Our scholarship and student programming focus on young people from low-income, underserved communities, particularly those from first-generation families: students navigating a financial system that was never designed with them in mind.
The gap between knowing and not knowing is the difference between upward mobility and staying stuck. We exist to close that gap.
Mission
We equip students with the real financial skills they need to build wealth, because a plan and a portfolio shouldn't be privileges. Our scholarship reserves that head start for students from low-income, underserved communities, particularly those from first-generation families.
Vision
Every student graduates with a plan, and the financial foundation to execute it.
Research cohort
students surveyed in our research cohort
increase in financial aid understanding
drop in high stress about college costs
The people
Tyler Hensley
Founder & Executive Director
A California classroom teacher who began his career in wealth management, Tyler designs, writes, and builds every Finance Lab resource, and teaches them to his own students daily.
Krista Meyers
Director of Programs
A veteran classroom teacher with a counseling credential, Krista currently teaches Dual Enrollment College Seminar. She leads The Finance Lab's programs, from classroom rollouts to the scholarship.
Support the work
Every $250 funds one scholarship milestone for one student.
The Finance Lab is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 82-5305120. Donations fund scholarships, classroom programs, and the work of keeping the curriculum free.
Questions: team@thefinancelab.co