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How a York Fintech Engages Students and the Community
Why CampusDoor found York to be their perfect fit
BY JJ SHEFFER | DIRECTOR, COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
When CampusDoor was looking to move their corporate headquarters, they were searching for a community they could connect with and a strong prospective employee base. Downtown York was their ideal location.
The B2B tech company specializes in white-label student loan origination, empowering about 400 financial institutions and other lenders to provide gap financing to students by way of about 1,600 different loan programs.
“We were looking for a community that we could really be part of, and a place where there was a really diverse prospective employee base. In York, we found great partnerships with institutions of higher education who can fuel us with fabulous employees.” - Sara Parrish, President
“It’s not just traditional undergraduate, graduate,” says President Sara Parrish. “It gets way more creative than that. We’re funding education-to-employment pathways and other non-degree credentials.”
CampusDoor provides support for post-secondary education financing with their proprietary software, their loan processing center here in York, and a focus on their responsibility to the industry, creating new and innovative products to expand access to post-secondary education.
Their work is grounded in collaboration, creative process, and compliance, balancing fun an innovation within the constructs of their highly-regulated industry. The company was founded in 1995 in Carlisle, PA by central Pennsylvania natives who felt strongly about having the company be based here. Parrish joined their staff in 2016 after meeting the founder and former CEO at a conference.
When it was time to move, York emerged as a great fit for their needs.
“We were looking for a community that we could really be part of,” Parrish says, “and a place where there was a really diverse prospective employee base. In York, we found great partnerships with institutions of higher education who can fuel us with fabulous employees.” They have also enjoyed the walkable downtown, visiting Central Market and nearby coffee shops.
“Being able to be part of the fabric of the community was enormously important to me and my leadership team, especially,” says Parrish, “and our employees have really followed suit” as they’ve settled into the area.
The company has 110 year-round employees, with the majority local to central PA, and hires local college students for summer employment, as well, including students from the York College Community Opportunity Scholarship Program (YCCOSP). The company supports YCCOSP, patronizes local businesses, and their employees serve on nonprofit boards throughout the community.
“We are a local organization. We plan to stay a local organization,” Parrish says. “We want to be a good citizen of the local community.”
