Written by Tanya Terry, with photos provided by Marc Alexander
2009 Kettering University Graduate Marc Alexander, co-founder and CEO of Lite Raise, is also founder of Lite Tuition, which helps college students who are struggling to pay their tuition. Alexander’s vision for Lite Tuition has always been to “pay it forward.” The company is a social tech company that empowers students to increase their fundraising potential through a custom-built crowdfunding platform.
Alexander majored in mechanical engineering at Kettering, and he graduated with a degree in business with a concentration in engineering and entrepreneurship before co-founding a business– but his road to success has not been an easy one.
In Alexander’s senior year, his mother was getting through her first bout of cancer.
“We had maxed out on student loans completely,” Alexander explained. “I had over $130,000 in student loans. I was very active on campus at that time. I had a nonprofit called Youth of Tomorrow, where we provided innovative, educational programs for students in Flint and Pontiac. During that time, we were doing a lot of articles for the Flint Journal. There was this amazing reporter by the name of Beata (Mostafavi), She called me one early morning and asked: ‘Marc, how is your last year of college going?..’ When I shared with her that, unfortunately, I’d been unable to take classes for about a year, she had a brief pause for about five seconds.”
The reporter soon after continued to ask questions, and unbeknownst to Alexander, she was putting together an article. On the front page of the Flint Journal, the headline read: “Kettering student struggles to finish last year of school.” Before long, an anonymous check arrived in the mail to Kettering to cover the rest of Alexander’s education.
With the check was a note, which was read over the phone to Alexander, who was stunned. The note read: “Dear Mr. Alexander, enclosed is a check for $16,000. This is a gift to pay for your last classes, next term at Kettering. We hope that at some time in your successful future you may find someone in need and pay this gift forward. Sincerely, Flint friends who are grateful for Kettering University and its outstanding graduates.”
“Once I hung up the phone I just broke down in tears,” Alexander said. “What people didn’t know behind the scenes was I cried a lot of nights, and it was a very humbling experience. I never from that day forward took for granted the power behind education. I remember praying and saying: ‘God, just give me a chance. I will not let you down.”’
On campus the following day, in the campus center, people who were there were clapping as Alexander went back to classes. But Alexander wanted to share even more joy with many other students.
This was especially the case when Alexander learned we live in a county with $1.58 trillion in student loan debt and 3.9 million students who started an undergraduate program with loans and no degree,
Recently, another student at Kettering, Tanisha Francis, was in similar shoes to the ones Alexander was in. Francis is computer engineering student going into her last term.
Francis grew up in Jamaica in a single-parent household after her biological father died. After her father’s death, Francis’ mother got a job as a janitor, which she still does. Francis made more at her first campus job as a library receptionist than her mother does, to put things in perspective. Fortunately, in addition to having a few co-op jobs, Francis received scholarships for college.
“This year, I didn’t have a co-op, and even though my mom’s heart was willing, her pocket just was not,” explained Francis.
Francis was urged to reach out to Alexander and his company Lite Tuition.
Francis said: “I really didn’t think there was any way anything could come out of this, but I said: ‘What’s the worst that can happen?”’
Alexander shared his story, then helped Francis set up an account on Lite Tuition and share her own story. Because of this, Francis was able to raise the funds she needed to finish her education.
Francis is grateful the team at Lite Tuition helped to also spread the word. She is blown away by the kindness of both people she knows, as well as by a multitude of strangers.
“I feel even more responsible and even more motivated to continue in the work that I do with my nonprofit, working with students, especially underprivileged kids back in Jamaica. I’m just really, really grateful and really, really excited to have received that sense of service and have the opportunity to pass it back to someone else…There is one quote I really love. It’s by Mother Teresa. It says: ‘I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.’”
