Esse Quam Videri - "To Be, rather than to seem."
You read in Chapter 24 [link] how aiding SECU members' kids apply for college (FAFSA) helped create a powerful relationship of support and trust between the Credit Union and the powers-that-be in the North Carolina education community. Relationships of importance are always built on trust. Are you for real, or are you just hype? In it for "the most profitable", or in it for the purpose? Is this about you (the"We B's"!), or about us? "To be, rather than to seem"? Doesn't usually take long to find out, does it.
North Carolina had a unique, cooperative system to help its citizens obtain, manage and repay student loans. Student loans are a difficult animal with lots of moving parts, complex rules, and much uncertainty. In 1955, N.C. financial institutions (banks, credit unions, insurance companies, and others) established the College Foundation Inc.(CFI), a non-profit, to manage the student lending process from application to repayment for North Carolinians - yes, it was a unicorn!
In 1965, the The North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority (NCSEAA), a State agency, was added to increase funding availability by the issuance of bonds in the market. Going to stop right there before we fall off a complexity cliff. Here's all that means: Demand for student loans was extremely high, NCSEAA borrowed the money to fund those loans from the public. The implied backing of the State of North Carolina helped with selling the bonds. Okay?
Where is this going? Cut to the chase. It was a super system for all involved, especially North Carolina students and their families. Worked exceptionally well until the nationwide financial collapse of 2009/2010 ( yet another chance for you to watch "Inside Job"!). Banks, financial markets in general, were on the ropes. Funding simply dried up, no one could tell how bad it was going to be (sort of a Covid-like pandemic in finance!) North Carolina kids still wanted to go to college, but NCSEAA couldn't find any funding. That's what happens when the by definition inbreeding of "industry standard" (also called "group think") hits the "everybody is doing it" wall.
So what? The "what" is the value of a North Carolina based financial institution, owned, controlled and laser-focused on North Carolina and its citizens - the State Employees' Credit Union. SECU stepped up and bought $1.5 billion in NCSEAA bonds so North Carolina kids could go to college that year, and the next, and the next. Not something that SECU had ever done before - definitely not "industry standard" -, but a win-win for everyone in North Carolina.
Didn't know that did you? Could it be that SECU, if driven by purpose and principle rather than profit, could be a an invaluable asset, a jewel, a treasure for the members and all of North Carolina?
Which do you as a member prefer - unicorn or "industry standard"?
... it's your choice, not "theirs".
