There should be Effective altruism loaning, not just funding

By jackchang110 @ 2026-08-27T05:17 (+14)

For example, I'm a medical student in Taiwan. However, I'm confident that going to USA medical school would probably significantly increase my career donations(because the annual salary in Taiwan doctor is:$170k, while it's $400k in USA, even the tuition of USA med school is $400k more than Taiwan, the career earning is definitely higher). Also, even if I study medicine in Taiwan, it's better for me to become a private clinic owner, which needs a significant amount of money. If I got these loaning, after I return all the loanings, in expected value I could donate $250-500k more in my lifetime.

It's very hard to get loaning on the two above mentioned situations(especially, it's impossible to get loaning as an international student in USA).

I could understand EA donors can't fund any researcher because the funding is limited. However, loaning is different, it would increase the funding in long-term.

Therefore, I think Coefficient giving and other EA majors should do EA loaning, it would significantly be beneficial to relieve the funding gap in EA.

Rory Fenton @ 2026-08-27T14:42 (+18)

Interesting suggestion! I think the example you outline makes sense. I'd guess part of why you don't see this kind of thing in EA might include:

It might not be a very neglected field: there are already a lot of scholarships and student loan companies/government policies. That might reduce the counterfactual value of the loan if the person might have gotten funding elsewhere.
The logistics of setting up a system to evaluate these opportunities could be significant, especially relative to the size of the loans. You might need to thoroughly investigate each borrower to be confident that they will not only repay but also are sincere in their donation plans.
Building on my 2nd point: I think it would be super easy to game a program like this and say "Of course I plan to donate $1m+ once I become a doctor" just so you get the loan. While the repayments might be legally binding, the obligation to donate will not be, so the impact side could weaken.

Anyway, just some quick thoughts, very open to counter takes and thank you for suggesting this idea! I do think there is a good place for some smart finance type stuff in EA for sure, such as loans for social enterprises to kick off, or other clever things like advance market commitments.

Richie @ 2026-08-28T09:45 (+2)

Interesting idea, but I'd advise you to map it out more. This post seems fairly low effort, and you may get more engagement if you fleshed it out a bit.