Penn students collaborated with Wharton’s Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance to develop an online tool designed to help students with their college finances.
Launched in April 2024, Finiverse is a free app that provides a comprehensive breakdown of the total cost of attending individual colleges. It also estimates financial aid eligibility, explains loan options and income-driven repayment plans, and simulates potential future earnings based on the student’s chosen degree and college.
The app’s team was established in 2021 with around 10 students and has grown to over 80 college and high school students this fall.
Finance professor and Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance Faculty Director David Musto spearheaded the idea for the app. He said that he has wanted to create a project that would serve the community since the Center’s launch in 2019.
“Student loans seemed like the logical thing to focus on because it’s a big decision you make when you’re very young,” Musto said. “We called it Finiverse because it’s sort of a multiverse approach to financial decisions.”
Finiverse being built “by students, for students” makes the tool a crucial element of financial literacy education, according to Wharton School Senior Associate Director of Student Engagement Jill Bazelon.
“What’s unique about this project is that it is being created exactly by the people we are trying to reach. So the feedback is pretty instantaneous regarding what our target market is looking for,” Bazelon said.
Wharton junior Sindi Banaj, who has been on the Finiverse team since 2021, said that the app was initially intended for graduate students before the team realized it would be more beneficial for the high school student population.
2020 Wharton graduate Sophia Ye said “a key differentiator” of Finiverse is the consolidation of data “all in one place,” which makes the information “simple and easy for a high schooler to understand.” She became involved with the project in 2022. Her software consulting group, Levra Labs — which she co-founded alongside 2020 Engineering and Wharton graduate Steffen Cornwell — helped to build the app.
College and Wharton junior Maryem Bouatlaoui was involved in the initial conception of the app as a high school junior. She noted her desire to better address the gap of financial literacy within the high school market, which she attributed to her experiences in the School District of Philadelphia.
“Especially in the Philadelphia region with the public school system, there’s a lack of resources when it comes to counseling services. This whole concept of financial responsibility and financial literacy isn’t as prominent in Philadelphia public schools,” Bouatlaoui said. “Coming from a high school with 2,400 students and only having four counselors was very ineffective and very inefficient, so we sought to create this application to fill that gap.”
Banaj noted that her experience as a first-generation student highlighted the challenges of managing college finances. She said this background inspired her to help other students access financial resources.
“We’re trying to make it as easy as possible for these students to have a better understanding of their financial aid situation and student loans in general,” Banaj said. “College students can also use the app since financial aid is constantly changing and student loans are also changing.”
The app has improved since the beginning, according to College junior and Finiverse product design team member Winnie Yang. She characterized the initial product as “rough-looking” and “bare-bones.” Since she began working on the app as a high school senior, Yang noted “enhancements” in “aesthetics and appearance” that have made the website a “smoother” experience.
The team is currently working to incorporate data from LinkedIn profiles into the app, as well as integrating artificial intelligence to make the app more tailored to individual users. Wharton junior and Finiverse data research team member Anne Liu also noted that the app is currently “very much Philly-based” and hopes it will expand beyond the city.
Wharton sophomore and Finiverse data research team member Nancy Li — who has been involved with the app since she was a high school junior — helped lead the local website launch of Finiverse back in April.
“At the Finiverse launch event, it was incredibly impactful to see students actively using the website," Li said. "Watching them interact with the platform brought our hard work to life and demonstrated how Finiverse is already making a real-world impact."
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