David Adefeso

Sootchy
Founder
https://sootchy.com/

At 21 years old I boarded an airplane to New York. I had $250 in cash, no friends and no job. Now I feel I have achieved the American dream but it came at a price: $125,800 in student debt to earn a Harvard MBA. I paid mine off only because I got incredibly lucky with a terrific Wall Street Investment Banking job right after graduating from Harvard advising some of the world’s largest companies on multi-billion dollar mergers, acquisitions and financing.

Most of our children never get that lucky. Many will graduate with student loans equivalent to a mortgage on a starter home. That loan will constrain their choices in life. They will delay buying a home, starting their own business, working for a charity they are passionate about, and even starting their own family and kids.
We want our children making those choices because it’s the right decision for them at that point in their lives rather than because of the noose of student debt they carry everywhere. That’s why I created Sootchy.

We’re so excited to welcome Arkansas Lighthouse Academies families to  Sootchy: the app on a mission to eradicate student loan debt! Whether LHA kids want to explore a four-year university, two-year college, a trade school, or other higher education, we’ve created an easy way to save using tax-free 529 Accounts. Regardless of which option you choose, creating a college savings plan is crucial to the success of our kids. A recent study found that children with college savings accounts are seven times more likely to go to college.