CFA Society Boston Develops 2021

As the Director of Finance for Stride Funding Inc. in Boston, Massachusetts, Scott Russian has an MBA in finance from Boston College. His duties include fund management, investor relations, and corporate finance. Before joining Stride Funding Inc., Scott Russian was the director of Liberty Mutual Investments in Boston. He is also a member of the CFA Society Boston.

The CFA Society is a network of investment management professionals working in the Greater Boston area. Members are brought together by a common belief that espouses the best practices in their professions, the highest ethical standards, and promoting professional development within the industry. This is by building trust and educating the communities they are working with.

CFA has developed its 2021 strategic plan covering organizational strategies towards realizing the Society’s mission and vision. The 2021 CFA strategic plan focuses on members' personal and professional development, addressing diversity issues in the investment profession, and developing an inclusive and supportive culture within CFA and the greater community.

Solution to the Student Debt Crisis

Scott Russian possesses 15 years of experience in the finance industry. As the director of finance at Stride Funding, Scott Russian works with a next-generation higher education funding provider that offers Income Share Agreements (ISAs) to ensure that repayment plans are commensurate with career earnings.

An early 2021 Stride Funding white paper, “ISAs: Towards an Outcomes-Driven Solution for the Student Loan Crisis,” explores shortcomings in the present system of higher education funding. Current practices have created a student debt crisis in which tuition has doubled over the past two decades. Some 45 million students hold an outstanding student debt total of approximately $1.6 trillion.

Despite a lack of rewarding careers and unsustainably high educational costs, the line of college loan applicants only grows longer. The reason is simple: adults who graduate from college, on average, earn $20,000 more per year than those who only graduate from high school. The differences are even more pronounced in high-demand fields, such as STEM and health care, in which jobs outpace the overall market.

An ISA concept was initially placed into the public debate by Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman in the 1950s. The concept is that dividends on student loans, which are akin to “investments in human capital,” should be contingent on the future earnings of students. Those who face unemployment or have incomes under a predefined threshold should not have to make student debt payments.