SoFi Blog

In our efforts to bring you the latest updates on things that might impact your financial life, we may occasionally enter the political fray, covering candidates, bills, laws and more. Please note: SoFi does not endorse or take official positions on any candidates and the bills they may be sponsoring or proposing. We may occasionally support legislation that we believe would be beneficial to our members, and will make sure to call it out when we do. Our reporting otherwise is for informational purposes only, and shouldn’t be construed as an endorsement.

Massachusetts senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is taking charge of the heated national conversation regarding out-of-control college tuition costs. In April 2019, she released a $1.25 trillion proposal that addresses increasing college expenses and the widening student debt crisis.

“Higher education opened a million doors for me,” the senator wrote when she introduced the plan in a post on Medium . “It’s how the daughter of a janitor in a small town in Oklahoma got to become a teacher, a law school professor, a U.S. Senator, and eventually, a candidate for President of the United States. Today, it’s virtually impossible for a young person to find that kind of opportunity.”

Industry insights, IPO updates, and fun facts about some of the world’s favorite firms.

So far, you might describe 2019 as the year of the unicorn companies. These are startup companies valued over $1 billion, and many of them—like Lyft, Beyond Meat, and Zoom—are hitting the market for the first time. But what’s driving this current trend in IPOs, and will it continue?

If you got a tax refund this year, you’re probably still giddy about the extra money. Who doesn’t love an unexpected windfall? Maybe you gave the federal government a little too much out of each paycheck last year. But what matters now is that you’ve got a tax refund in hand, and you want to be wise about how to use it.

If you have yet to decide what to do with your tax refund, it might be time to set some priorities. This is going to be relatively painless, and hopefully it will help you gain some clarity on the money issues that keep you up at night.

If debt is dragging you down, this could be an opportunity to pay off a credit card or two, or some other high-interest debt that’s been plaguing you. If your refund is anywhere close to the average—which was about $3,000 last year—you could potentially take a serious bite out of any balances you’re carrying.

Family debt is never easy to tackle, but if a sibling is struggling with a significant amount of student loan debt, it can seem even more overwhelming. Should you help pay off your sibling’s student loans if you are financially secure enough to do it?

When offering money to a family member, it’s important to remember that doing so could change your relationship, even if you are offering to help reduce student loan debt for a sibling.

Today, we officially announced the availability of SoFi Private Student Loans – no fees, competitive rates, flexible repayment options, and a mobile-first experience. We’ve helped over 250,000 grads, including some of you reading this very post, refinance their student debt. So, we thought it was high time to expand our offering and to bring the same trusted and easy experience to a broader audience.

The traditional student loan application process is daunting. We’ve taken everything we’ve learned making lending convenient and painless and brought those solutions to younger consumers and their parents through SoFi Private Student Loans.