Building a Future Where Opportunity Is Not Determined by Circumstance

Every time I meet one of our students, I am reminded that talent is universal, even if opportunity is not.

Recently in Nairobi, I had the privilege of celebrating the graduates supported through Chancen International's partnership with the Task Catering Training Institute alongside over 60 colleagues from five continents who traveled to Kenya for the Global ISA Alliance Annual Convening. Four years ago, I co-founded the Alliance alongside Mario Ferro to unite those who share a common belief that every young person deserves the opportunity to develop their talents, regardless of where they were born or the circumstances into which they were born. Seeing this global community come together reinforced something we have believed for years: solving the world’s education and employment challenges will require collaboration, shared standards, and a relentless focus on student outcomes.

I was proud to share a piece of Chancen’s work with the Alliance members and guests, and as I listened to the young people at Task describe their plans—to begin careers on European cruise lines, continue building their skills, and one day lead in some of the world's finest hospitality organizations—I was reminded why Chancen exists.

Their stories were different, but they shared something powerful in common: an incredible abundance of ambition and ability. What they lacked was access to opportunity.

That is the challenge Chancen was created to solve.

Celebrating the TASK graduates who formed Chancen’s first member cohort.

Around the world, millions of talented young people are prevented from pursuing tertiary education, not because they are incapable, but because the financial systems surrounding education place too much risk on students and too little responsibility on the institutions that benefit from their success.

We believe there is a better way. Our work has always been about creating better livelihoods for young people. Since 2018, we have worked alongside universities, employers, investors, philanthropists, and policymakers to demonstrate that it is possible to expand access to tertiary education that leads to employment while putting students first. Every partnership we build is guided by a simple principle: when students succeed, everyone should succeed. The measure of our success is how many lives are transformed––how many students graduate, secure a living-wage job, and are financially secure enough to repay the costs of their education.

That commitment to responsible growth reached an important milestone this month. Following a year of collaboration in which Chancen played an active role as part of the steering committee, the Alliance officially launched the first global standards for outcomes-based education finance—establishing clear expectations for transparency, student protection, responsible practice, and measurable outcomes. This work reflects a shared effort led by organizations including Better Future Forward (United States), Lumni (Latin America), Quotanda (Europe and Latin America), StudierendenGesellschaft Witten/Herdecke e.V. (Central Europe), Waiser (Asia), and Chancen, all of whom contributed to defining what it means to build this field responsibly. These standards are not an endpoint, but a foundation: a way to ensure that as this model expands, it does so in service of students and with the trust of institutions and society.

The Global ISA Alliance 2026 attendees

What makes this moment especially meaningful is that it is no longer an isolated effort. The principles that Chancen and its peers have advanced through the Alliance are beginning to show up in broader policy conversations across countries and systems. In the United States, recently introduced bipartisan legislation—the Outcomes-Based Financing for Students Act of 2026—reflects many of the same commitments to transparency, consumer protection, and accountability that have guided Chancen’s work from the beginning. Developed with leaders from Jobs for the Future, Better Future Forward, Western Governors University, Social Finance, Progressive Policy Institute, Pursuit, The Forward Fund, and the Student Freedom Initiative, the proposal signals growing alignment around a simple idea: education finance should be judged by whether it works for students. More on this policy development from Jobs for the Future can be read here. Taken together, these developments point to something larger than any one organization or country—including the field-building work that Chancen has helped advance. A field that once operated in pockets is beginning to converge around shared expectations for outcomes, protection, and accountability—and a clearer understanding that expanding educational opportunity and protecting students must go hand in hand.

That is why our work continues. Our goal is to help build a world where opportunity is determined by talent, effort, and aspiration—not by circumstance.