Founder's Story (A little spill about me)
My name is Léon, and I am the founder of ScholarUnlock. I am a college student studying Law, and like many of you, I have experienced firsthand the struggles of trying to succeed academically while dealing with tuition costs and expensive educational services online.
It all started in 2020, my sophomore year, dealing with COVID and night classes. I was struggling with my classes a lot and needed help. At the time, no AI existed to help me, and eventually I found a website called Chegg, thinking that my life would be much easier. I thought wrong. When I went to view the answer or explanation, I was hit with a paywall blocking access. I was furious and tried to find other educational content, but it was the same result everywhere.
I still eventually paid for it because I had no choice, and later hired a tutor to help me get through that year. But that was not fair. I already had to pay for tuition, textbooks, rent, car bills, and utility bills. Adding more subscriptions on top of all that just to understand my coursework felt wrong.
That experience stuck with me. I went to my classmates for help, and some of them also used online educational content. We were all smart, motivated students who wanted to learn, but the fact that we had to pay for these resources made me think: how is this fair? I understand these educational websites need to make money, but at least provide free trials, or one-time access to view an answer. Mind you, these companies are million and billion dollar corporations.
My freshman year was actually worse than my sophomore year. I specifically mention my sophomore year because that was when I needed to get myself together and graduate university before I could go to law school, which was a decision I made later in 2024. Before law school, I was heavily involved in the science field, doing research and background work.
I refused to accept that this was just how things had to be. So in early 2023, I started sharing resources with a small group of my friends. We helped each other and eventually got through it all together. Later, I quickly built a website and started sharing resources that I hoped anyone could find useful. I used to share emails and passwords, and when I noticed students actually using them, it made me feel like even though I did not make a huge impact, deep down I knew I had helped somebody. And to me, that is all that mattered.
I wanted to make things affordable, not fully paid. We are students, not kings, billionaires, or the sons and daughters of princes. Well, at least many of us are not.
Having a beautiful team to help me and partnering with one of my close friends was one of the best decisions I have made in my life. I will not give up until my very last breath. This is ScholarUnlock, and this is why I built it.
"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."- Martin Luther King Jr.
A Note on Academic Integrity
We understand the concerns around services like ours. Let me be clear about our position.
Our service is a learning tool, not a cheating or hacking service. Every account or solution we provide comes from directly its source specifically so students can understand the material using those services. We encourage users to use these resources to learn, practice, and verify their understanding, not to submit work they do not comprehend.
We trust our users to use these resources responsibly, just as libraries trust patrons not to plagiarize from books. Access to information is not the same as misuse of information.