.financialaid Domain Registration - .financialaid Domains - Register Rezolve Group, Inc. Domain Name .financialaid

18.(a).1 Mission of proposed gTLD

The mission of the .FINANCIALAID gTLD ("gTLD", ".FINANCIALAID", "the domain" and "this domain") is to become the recognized web space for accurate, up-to-date and complete information on the student financial aid process. Rezolve Group, Inc. ("Rezolve", "we", "Rezolve Group" and "the company") has the capabilities and experience in this industry to be the operator of this new registry and provide students and families with the necessary information on planning and paying for college. This gTLD will be a closed registry that will allow Rezolve Group to accomplish two main purposes.

1) Create an innovative web space that provides accurate, consistent and up-to-date information surrounding the student financial aid process. Under the umbrella of this domain, Rezolve Group could integrate, organize and streamline the financial aid process for students and institutions.

2) Enhance current relationships with college and university partners to create a seamless and intuitive web experience for students and families to research and possibly apply for financial aid at that school.

Purpose 1 -
In the United States the National Center for Education Statistics predicts that almost 20 million US students will enroll in college in 2012. This number is forecasted to increase approximately 2% each year; forecasting almost 22.5 million students enrolling in college in 2019. In the European Union (EU-27) the European Commission in their Eurostat report indicated that in 2009 there were 25 million students enrolled in upper and post-secondary, non-tertiary education as well as an additional 21 million enrolled in tertiary education. There is a growing population of students attending post-secondary institutions. For the majority of these students and their families, financial aid is an integral part of making a good college decision and successfully earning a degree. Financial aid is a very broad term which in the United States alone encompasses 10 separate and unique federal aid programs, 636 individual state aid programs, 11 military financial aid programs and almost 100,000 unique institutional aid programs at more than 7300 colleges and universities. These programs do not take into account a number of other unique ways that students may pay for a college education including hundreds of private student loan options, institutional payment plans and thousands of potential private scholarships. Each of these programs and alternative sources of aid has unique deadlines and rules to follow. Accurately completing the various applications for this vast array of programs is an important part of maximizing an individual student's eligibility for aid. Needless to say this process can be confusing and stressful to many of the students and families who are preparing for college - many of which are going through this process for the first time.

The decision of which college to attend and how to finance that education is typically one of the two largest expenses that a person will make in their lifetime. With the exception of the purchase of a home, financing a college education can be the largest financial decision that many students and their families will ever make.

Keeping in mind the magnitude of this decision and lifelong negative consequences of making the wrong choice, Rezolve Group believes that it is important for students and families to have access to this wealth of financial aid information in a simple and intuitive way. Rezolve Group plans to use the .FINANCIALAID gTLD as the new web space to compile, organize and make available accurate information on the thousands of different financial aid programs and other sources of aid.
There is also the possibility of creating area specific sites like military.FINANCIALAID or nursing.FINANCIALAID that can create a more focused presentation of information and further streamline a family's financial aid research.
Rezolve's business model will be to provide a substantial amount of this information free of charge while also offering specific services for a fee for those families that would like individualized products, services or assistance to help with the financial aid process.

Purpose 2 -

Rezolve Group currently has relationships with more than 700 college and university campuses in all 50 US states for which we provide an array of student financial aid products and services. The main product that these clients use is a Net Price Calculator - a financial aid estimation tool that calculates an individual student's true net cost of attendance at that university, after taking into account the individual's unique economic circumstances, academic abilities and personal characteristics. This calculation takes into account tuition and fees as well as the other costs associated with a post-secondary education less estimated eligible financial aid. Our capabilities are built on complex financial aid eligibility algorithms that required more than 5 years of compiling the necessary information and building the internal systems infrastructure to provide extremely accurate estimates for aid to a large population of prospective and current college students. . These algorithms take into consideration the student's personal circumstances in order to determine eligibility for individual financial aid programs and then create a package of programs to fund their education based on federal, state, and institutional regulations.

Rezolve Group has additional products and services to deepen relationships with these clients. This gTLD will be used to facilitate further integration with these university partners. Each college or university partner that desires to add additional products and services from the suite of Rezolve Group would also receive their own 〈school〉.FINANCIALAID second level domain (SLD) to support all their financial aid information at that school. A college or university may use their second level domain in many ways. The general idea would be that all the services that are provided by Rezolve Group as well as all services that are provided by the university should be coordinated and presented in a unified and easily accessible manner using the 〈school〉.FINANCIALAID SLD. The school could create and maintain pages that give an overview of financial aid including detailed information about specific school deadlines, policies, procedures or guidelines. These school maintained pages would flow seamlessly with the third party products and services provided to the school by Rezolve Group, Inc. Net price calculators provided by Rezolve Group, Inc. at each school might be accessed through npc.〈school〉.FINANCIALAID while additional services such as online application forms could be referenced similarly.

Under such a content display model, there would be tremendous benefit to both Internet users and colleges. Internet users would benefit from an intuitive process of understanding and contrasting financial aid across the different institutions as they search for information. Colleges and universities would benefit from access to a 〈school〉.FINANCIALAID SLD and a more standardized content organization and intuitive experience for current and prospective students. Internet users would benefit by having a single space that has developed intrinsic trust to research the complexities of the student aid process that are relevant to their unique situation. They would no longer have to navigate multiple college websites trying to discover the financial aid information only to then have to try to compare information presented in different ways.

18.(b). Introduction

The .FINANCIALAID gTLD will benefit Internet users by providing a new space to find accurate, complete and personally-relevant information. The information that will be compiled on the proposed gTLD will create competition through consolidation, personalization, customization and accuracy of the information. Internet users will benefit from the trust they will develop in the content found on this domain as the best location on the internet to find the information they need to understand and apply for financial aid.

18.(b).1 The goal of proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels and reputation.

The goal of the proposed gTLD is to build an authoritative domain that provides all the resources needed to research and identify a families available financial aid options. And for the last 5 years, Rezolve Group, Inc. has provided innovative enrollment enhancement and student aid solutions to the higher education industry. We have focused on simplifying the way that students and parents think about, and access information concerning, how to pay for college. We have created innovative ways to compare the costs and benefits of multiple college education options on an apples-to-apples basis. We have also helped schools differentiate themselves by providing services that effectively simplify the financial aid process for students, significantly reduce the amount of time that is spent on understanding and completing the necessary forms and procedures and give the school an opportunity to showcase their unique school profile and value of attending that institution. By using our services, schools have demonstrated to prospective students that an education at their school is more than just about price but it includes a number of other factors that contribute to a successful college experience. These services have proven to dramatically increase the number and quality of students attending these institutions.

18.(b).1.1 Areas of specialty

Financial aid in terms of U.S. post-secondary education will be the first focus of the proposed gTLD. Currently the information regarding financial aid is spread throughout the internet on .com, .edu, .gov, .us, .net, .org and a number of other types of domains. Because the information is located and maintained by a variety of organizations, the current space is disjointed and suffers from a lack of consistency that often provides conflicting information to end users. For example, when searching student aid deadlines on a search engine you are presented with an array of different information. A user would see ".gov" sites that give information on the federal deadlines for the FAFSA form. A user would also see a ".com" site that provides a list of state student aid deadlines. There would also be a number of institutions that report school-specific deadlines on individual ".edu" websites. Users currently must sift through this information to try to understand what they are looking for; once they understand whether they are looking for a federal, state or institution deadline, they must determine which website they can trust to supply that piece of information correctly. The goal of this gTLD is to give users a place that not only helps them understand what types of deadlines they should be aware of but also helps them find each deadline that impacts their individual situation.

The domain may be expanded to other countries and other areas of financial aid as the need and opportunity grows. The areas of specialty that may be included within the umbrella of financial aid under this domain could grow to include the student financial aid systems that are operated in countries throughout the world. It may also include types of financial aid that are not directly tied to financial aid for educational purposes such as military aid programs, home loan programs and other financial aid programs that assist in all areas of the financial world.

18.(b).1.2 Service Levels

Users will experience familiarity with content presentation and user interface as they move from page to page within this domain. Sites will be fully functional with active and valid links to provide users with useful 3rd party content.

18.(b).1.3 Reputation

The goal of this gTLD is to develop the reputation as the most trusted and accurate one-stop-shop for the information needed to understand all options for federal, state and institutional student financial aid.
Students are often confused by the intricacies of the student financial aid process. The process can be complicated by the multiple deadlines, forms and programs that may or may not apply depending on the student's individual situation. This domain will provide the information that students need to know in order to quickly and easily understand and act on the financial aid programs that correspond to them. By providing this value added service to many students with unique situations and from unique geographies, we intend to build upon our reputation as the leader in the space of financial aid information whatever your individual situation may be.

i.18.(b).2 Anticipated additions to current space in terms of competition, differentiation or innovation by adding proposed gTLD.

18(b).2.1 Competition

Rezolve group anticipates that the proposed gTLD will add significantly to the competition experienced within the current space. Much of the information that will be found on the domain is currently located in many different locations on the Internet such as governmental sites, educational institution sites, and other informational sites. This domain adds competition through consolidation, personalization, customization and accuracy of the information. This domain will provide students and families a method to simply and easily understand and take action on the myriad of information that is available to them. By providing individually-relevant and comparable information in one consolidated location the .FINANCIALAID domain will compete and surpass the other sources for financial aid information within the current space.

18.(b).2.2 Differentiation

Websites in this domain will contain accurate and useful information that has a consistency across the entire domain such that users will be able to compare and contrast information in a way that is not possible today. Additionally, navigation throughout the domain will be more intuitive and consistent so that search results can be more accurate and users able to anticipate where content will be.

Rezolve Group's goal is that the .FINANCIALAID domain will also include forums and blogs that give users the option to interact with experts and other users. Rezolve Group will work to establish, sponsor, and encourage topic specific forums and blogs. Rezolve will also enforce permissible content and comment policies to ensure that the information and advice provided in these forums and blogs meet the accuracy and relevancy standards that establish the authoritative reputation of this domain.

18.(b).2.3 Innovation

Rezolve Group anticipates the proposed gTLD will add to the current space in terms of innovation by changing the way students and families approach their search for financial aid.
In the United States, most students apply for post-secondary education many months before they begin thinking about financial aid. Our goal is to innovate in this space with our proposed gTLD by creating a new web space that turns this process around and changes how students and families think about the financial aid process. We plan to provide online resources that will save students time, help them make sound decisions and be more prepared to enter post-secondary education without fear of how they will pay for a full education. The first step to creating this new innovative web space is to facilitate student understanding of the types and sources of financial aid available: federal, state, military, institutional, employer, private and tax-based. As students begin to apply for school they will be able to start to make better informed decisions by making their application decisions in light of how much aid they are estimated to receive at each school to which they apply.

The Rezolve Group currently has the technology to provide this type of information through the school relationships we have built over time, as well as through our innovative product set that we have created with the idea of improving this process in mind. After students use this information to apply for school, they will also be much better suited to make their final acceptance decision as they will have a much clearer picture of the financial aid they will receive at each institution. As this domain expands and is more fully integrated with college and university partners of Rezolve, this domain may become the location where you not only come to research and understand financial aid but also the place where students come to complete all pieces of their financial aid process in one streamlined, user-friendly and time-saving application.

18.(b).3 User Experience
Our goals with this proposed gTLD in terms of user experience is to provide a more intuitive and navigable domain for students, families and others who are seeking financial aid. Our goal for this proposed gTLD is to become generally accepted as the most reputable and authoritative location to find and understand student financial aid. Users will experience a consistent interface that provides accurate, up to date and relevant information across the realms of federal, state, military and institutional financial aid sources. They will not be exposed to scams, misleading content, incorrect information or dishonest service offerings.
Rezolve Group is also committed to providing robust and universally available content by evaluating all sites for web accessibility best practices as defined by W3.org. Whenever possible, we will direct content to be displayed in a manner that makes it accessible by assistive devices with alternatives that include full mouse and keyboard navigation as well as text to speech readers. Where full web accessibility is limited, we will seek to develop alternative pages that can make as much of that content available as possible.

Rezolve Group will require that all common browsers be supported in as much as the browser is supported and patched for security vulnerabilities by a legitimate entity and has a measureable user base. This current list would include Internet Explorer®, Google Chrome™, FireFox®, Safari®, and Opera®.

Another goal for the proposed domain is to provide the information contained in this domain in multiple languages to facilitate the use and acceptance of this domain. Within the United States there are populations in which languages, like Spanish and Mandarin, are the user's native language and they would better be able to understand the subtleties of financial rules, applications, and deadlines if the information was presented in their native language. Additionally, any expansion in other countries would require that content be presented in the languages commonly used in that country.

18.(b).4 Intended Registration Policies

As a single registrant, closed registry the registration policies will be greatly simplified. Rezolve Group will be the registrant for all domain names. All registrations will either be used exclusively by Rezolve Group as part of its ongoing business and services or they will be released to clients or partners of Rezolve Group in order for those entities to integrate relevant content and sites into the domain. Rezolve Group, as the registrant, can remove any content or offers that it feels are in conflict with the established goals and doctrines of the domain.

Question 29 describes Rezolve Group's proposed policies for Sunrise, Use of Trademark Clearing House, and Dispute Resolution. However, Rezolve Group's sunrise policy will only ensure that a SLD will be reserved and not used without an entities permission. Rezolve Group would retain sole discretion at to which SLDs are active in the domain.
Reserved Names - Rezolve Group will follow published ICANN guidelines and will reserve and not use any second level and higher domain names that have been set aside by ICANN. In cases where there is a conflict between a reserved name and a legitimate entity or use, Rezolve Group will seek permission to use the name from ICANN or the authoritative entity responsible for allowing the use of that name. Rezolve Group will reserve any names coming from the Sunrise policy.

Rezolve Group will also determine and set aside a block of second level domain (SLD) names for global and generic use by Rezolve Group within the domain. Some examples of these are help.finanacialaid, index.financialaid, map.financialaid and start.financialaid, etc. Rezolve Group will also closely monitor evolving trends in common generic SLDs and implement those to ensure consistency with the new gTLD landscape.
Landrush general availability - There will be no landrush or general availability of SLDs in this domain. Rezolve Group will be the sole registrant of all SLDs. Rezolve Group will reserve the full right to register or not register SLDs. Rezolve Group will evaluate each potential SLD as to whether it will enhance the domain and benefit the users.
18.(b).5 Measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users.

As a single registrant, closed registry, protecting the privacy and confidential information of registrants will not be an issue. Rezolve Group, Inc. will have full authority over user privacy and user confidentiality controls within this domain. Rezolve Group will monitor the privacy standards of all sites in this domain to ensure that best practices for privacy protection standards are met.

Rezolve treats web site security just as seriously as a financial institution and has implemented a defense-in-depth security model utilizing industry best practices. We have state-of the art monitoring, prevention, and active response systems to guard against external and internal attacks as well as 24x7 monitoring of all data in motion. Additionally, MacAfee Secure performs exhaustive, daily penetration tests on our systems. We maintain their highest level of certification as well as being fully PCI certified. With these high data security standards, users will have the confidence not only to trust the content provided on this domain but also to provide information when necessary. These best practices will apply to all information collected from all sites in this domain.

The privacy policy http://www.mymilitaryaid.com/privacy.html is generally representative of the privacy policies on the websites that Rezolve Group, Inc. currently maintains. Our privacy policies may be updated from time to time in order to accommodate changes in the law, changes in our business, requirements of the marketplace, and evolving customer orientation. Such updates could have the effect of either narrowing the scope of the policy or broadening it, depending on prevailing circumstances. We will consider this as the standard requirement for all sites on the domain.

18.(b).6 Outreach and communications methods to achieve project benefits.

Rezolve Group, Inc. currently partners with over 700 colleges and university campus. These relationships will be leveraged to notify current and prospective students of the benefits of the resources and service available in the .FINANCIALAID gTLD. We expect organic traffic from users of these, and other, school sites. One of the large benefits that will be available through this proposed gTLD is the integration with educational institutions to simplify the financial aid process for students and parents at that school. Specific outreach to our school partners will be executed in order to make them aware of this new opportunity that will be available through this new domain.


Although Rezolve Group, Inc. plans to offer fee based services, there will also be a multitude of information that will be available free of charge to the public. Rezolve Group, Inc. will engage in a similar business model to many successful services in which we will offer substantial amounts of information and guidance for free with the option for users to upgrade for a fee to a full-service, individualized version of the product or service.

Additionally, many of the students that need assistance with acquiring financial aid are the students who are least able to pay for that assistance. To address this problem, Rezolve Group, Inc. has partnered with non- profit organizations to improve college access for many low-income and needy families. Between our Access for AllTM program that is sponsored by USA Funds and our partnership with Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA) we have provided free financial aid preparation and assistance services to more than 30,000 low income students in the past 2 years.
Rezolve Group currently uses SEM and SEO strategies to communicate the value of our current products and service available on our web properties. These outreach methods will continue to be utilized to communicate with our target audience - students and families seeking assistance with financial aid—the benefit of these proposed gTLD. Our plan for the proposed gTLD will be executed in a phased approach. During the first year of domain existence, Rezolve Group will focus on creating and consolidating the necessary content that will exist within the domain. The second year will focus on executing awareness activities to drive interest in the new domain. One of the main methods we will use to drive this interest in our domain may be through search engine marketing. Rezolve Group currently receives visits from over 13 million unique visitors annually. We plan to use a similar SEM strategy to increase awareness of the proposed domain.

18c. Operating rules to eliminate or minimize social costs and other steps to minimize negative consequences/costs imposed upon consumers

As a closed registry, protecting the privacy and confidential information of registrants will not be an issue since there are no public registrants. Rezolve Group, Inc. will have full authority over user privacy and user confidentiality controls within this domain. Rezolve Group, Inc. will also have control over the accuracy and presentation of the content provided. Users can expect familiarity with content and user interface as they move from page to page within this domain. Sites will be fully functional with active and valid links to provide users with useful 3rd party content.

Another benefit to users of a closed domain is that this gTLD will not allow dishonest or misleading content of any kind. Because students and families are desperate for financial aid information, they often fall prey to dishonest or other misleading services. Users will be able to access the content of this domain knowing that all information is accurate and that all services offered are legitimate and valuable.
The only financial cost that an Internet user may incur would be if he or she elects to use a service offered on the domain and chooses to pay the associated fee. Rezolve will ensure that industry best practices are in place as it relates to the use, collection and storage of credit card information.

18. (c).1 Multiple application resolution

Multiple applications for the same domain name will never be an issue. Rezolve Group will assign all domain names and internally will use its best judgment to resolve conflicts so that the domain space and users are best served. We are planning on using a consistent naming algorithm when selecting domain names for institution, topic specific sites and content so that users will feel familiarity with finding and identifying content.

18. (c).2 Cost benefits to registrants

This question doesn't apply to the .FINANCIALAID domain based on our intended utilization of the registry. Rezolve Group will be the only registrant and will allow use of domain names based on business decisions and decisions to promote a more complete, robust, and authoritative domain.

18.(c).3 Price Escalation

This question also doesn't apply to the .FINANCIALAID domain based on our intended utilization of the registry. There is no direct charge for the use of domain names. The use will be a possible benefit of having a business relationship with Rezolve Group. The fees, if any, charged in that business arrangement will be inclusive of many possible services and the pricing will be negotiate as a complete package.

22.1 Protection of geographic names at the second and other levels

Rezolve Group will follow published ICANN guidelines and will reserve and not use any second level and higher domain names that have been set aside by ICANN. In cases where there is a conflict between a reserved name and a legitimate entity or use, Rezolve Group will seek permission to use the name from ICANN or the responsible authoritative entity.

With specific focus on geographic names, Rezolve Group, Inc. would like to reserve the right to allow the use of geographic names when the geographic name is especially relevant and necessary to distinguish and identify the products, rules, and deadlines surrounding financial aid that has been uniquely established by and for that geographic entity. For example, a resident of Texas might go to Texas.FINANCIALAID to research all the programs, scholarships, and deadlines for which they are eligible and to find out which colleges participate in those programs. Just like resident of Denmark might start at Denmark.FINANCIALAID to research options at Danish universities.

We welcome and encourage the responsible entities within these geographic entities to work with us to ensure that we have included all the information they would like families and students to have. It is our intent to cooperate and work closely with geographic entities to ensure that the entities see our domain as a positive and helpful way of presenting their policies, programs, and offerings. If required by ICANN, we will acquire their written permission prior to using their geographic name.

It is important to understand that each geographic region has important information somewhere on their sites in a format and language that is unique to that site. On the .FINANCIALAID domain, we will synthesize that information and present it in a consistent, complete, and relevant framework so that it is easy for families and students to understand and compare different opportunities and programs. Only an independent third party such as Rezolve Group is able to do this across all the geographic and political boundaries. The value to families of having this data synthesized and organized in this fashion cannot be understated. Our years of dealing with families has revealed that the disparate ways information is presented is a significant barrier to navigating the financial aid process.