EduFund: How Eela Dubey is Solving the Global Higher Education Crisis Through Disciplined Investing
For most parents, sending their child to a dream university is the ultimate goal. But when the tuition bill arrives, the gap between aspiration and financial reality can be devastating. Eela Dubey, Co-founder and CEO of EduFund, lived this reality firsthand. From navigating a $210,000 bill at NYU to making the agonizing decision to drop out of Columbia to stabilize her finances, Eela’s journey is the blueprint for her mission: ensuring that no child's dream is ever cut short by a lack of financial planning.
Eela Dubey’s transition into entrepreneurship is a masterclass in turning personal pain into systemic solutions. Born and raised in the US, Eela began her career on Wall Street in investment management. After a transformative 1.5-year sabbatical as a yoga instructor in India, she returned to finance, eventually meeting her co-founder Arindam Sengupta. In 2020, they launched EduFund to bridge the "Information-to-Action" gap for Indian parents, recently securing a $6M Series A to scale their higher education ecosystem globally.
The $210,000 Reality Check
When Eela got into her dream school, NYU, the total cost for four years was $210,000. Despite her parents' best efforts, they were shocked by how much prices had escalated since their own college days. Eela worked two jobs throughout university and took seven years to pay off her loans—a burden she is now helping the next generation avoid.
The Problem: The 'Paper' Savings Trap
In India, parents are famous for saving for their children's education. However, most of these savings are unstructured. They may have a small corpus in a savings account or a fixed deposit, but they rarely account for the true rate of education inflation—which often outpaces general inflation. Furthermore, there is a massivesubset of parents who are completely unaware that even a basic engineering degree in India can cost several lakhs a year and is rising rapidly.
"Information alone won't do anything," Eela explains. "You can tell a parent that education will cost 50 lakhs in ten years, but if you don't give them a tool to actually start saving ₹1,000 a month today, the dream remains a nightmare."
The Solution: The EduFund 'Information-to-Action' App
EduFund is more than just an investment app; it is a dedicated higher-education roadmap. By marrying financial technology with academic counseling, Eela and Arindam have created a one-stop shop for parents to calculate, save, and prepare for the university journey.
The EduFund Roadmap
- The College Calculator: Parents answer simple questions about their child's age and desired study destination (India or abroad).
- Tuition Estimation: The app provides a near-exact estimate of tuition and living expenses, adjusted for 5, 10, or 15 years of inflation.
- Disciplined SIPs: Parents can start an 'EduFund' with as little as ₹100 a month, investing in mutual funds and US stocks to benefit from compounding.
- Counselor Connection: The platform aggregates expert counselors to help with SAT prep, college essays, and application processes.
- Education Loans: For the final gap, EduFund provides access to specialized education loans with favorable terms.
Is Higher Education Still Worth It?
In an era where digital learning is decentralized, Eela remains a firm believer in the value of a physical university degree. She argues that while content is now accessible, the teaching pedagogy and the skills learned from peers in a physical setting are irreplaceable. However, she urges universities to be more conscious of their pricing, as the debt burden is becoming unsustainable for many families.
"My time at university taught me something nothing else could," she reflects. "But the ROI is personal. For my father, a specialized degree was vital. For others, it's about the network. Our job is to make sure that whatever the choice, the finances are ready."
EduFund Impact & Growth
- $12 Million Total Funding: Secured across seven rounds from global VCs.
- Series A Success: Recently closed $6M led by Cercano Management and MassMutual Ventures.
- Compounding Power: Helping parents start SIPs as low as ₹100 to cover future tuition gaps.
- Holistic Ecosystem: Combining calculators, investments, and academic counseling in one app.
Lessons in Resilience: The Dropout's Courage
One of the most defining moments in Eela’s life was dropping out of a Master's program at Columbia University. Faced with an additional $120,000 in debt for a two-year degree, she chose financial health over a prestigious credential. It was a risk that few take, but it allowed her to become financially free and eventually start her own venture.
"No one teaches you how to start a company," she admits. "Initial days were hard, sleepless, and required three times the effort because I don't come from a tech background. But if you are disciplined and passionate about the vision that keeps you up at night, you can construct an idea out of thin air."
Founder's Lesson: Team as the First Product
Eela views her team as the company's "First Product." She personally handled every hire without an agency, focusing on finding people willing to take an A-level risk for a visionary goal. "Your dream team leads you to your secondary product—the app."
The Meaning of Entrepreneurship
For Eela, entrepreneurship is the pursuit of a vision without regret. It’s about having the compassion to lead a team through frustration, anger, and hopeless roadblocks while remaining their biggest cheerleader. She defines a founder as someone who can take the "unstructured air" of an idea and turn it into a physical reality that changes lives.
EduFund is proving that while education costs may be skyrocketing, the power of disciplined investing can bring them back down to earth. By turning every parent into a savvy investor, Eela Dubey and her team are ensuring that for the next generation, the only limit to their education is their imagination.
About the Guest
Eela Dubey is the Co-founder and CEO of EduFund. An NYU alumna with a background in Wall Street investment management and sustainable development policy, Eela is a pioneer in the education-fintech space. She is a certified yoga instructor and a passionate advocate for financial literacy and accessible education. Under her leadership, EduFund has emerged as India's premier platform for higher education planning, helping thousands of families secure their children's academic future.
EduFund is an investment app dedicated to helping parents save for their children's higher education. By combining a college calculator, mutual fund SIPs, US stock investments, and academic counseling, the platform provides a holistic ecosystem for families to manage the rising costs of university degrees globally.