It’s official, we’ve given away $10,000 to one lucky student. Congratulations to our winner, Harsimran Sandhu!

See how Harsimran will use his winnings to pursue his dream.

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What’s your dream career?

Become a world-renowned scientist. Work from a corner office in the middle of vibrant city. Open a non-profit dedicated to a cause you love. Travel the world as a famous news reporter.

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Imagine the possibilities

How would you use $10,000 to pursue your career?

Step 1: Tell us in a 30-90 second video explaining how you plan to use the money to pursue your dreams.

Step 2: Complete the contact form and submit your entry below.


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Ascent is ready to invest in you and your future.

We will be awarding $10,000 to an inspiring student who shares their life’s ambitions with us.

Whether you dream of a life-changing educational experience or starting your own business, we want to hear from you.

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Pursue Your Dream Contest is closed. A winner will be announced December 9th.

Ascent Pursue Your Dream Contest – October 10, 2022 – November 11, 2022

Official Rules

THESE OFFICIAL RULES ARE A CONTRACT—READ THEM CAREFULLY BEFORE ENTERING. WITHOUT LIMITATION, THIS CONTRACT INCLUDES A RELEASE AND LICENSE FROM YOU, AND A LIMITATION OF CERTAIN OF YOUR RIGHTS AND REMEDIES.

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THIS CONTEST. PURCHASES DO NOT INCREASE ODDS OF WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

  1. Contest and Sponsor. Ascent Funding is on a mission to provide access to education for millions of students every year. The aim of the Ascent Pursue Your Dreams Contest (the “Contest”) is to identify, through a video submission and judging process, one (1) person who will receive a one-time direct payment of USD $10,000 (“Prize”) (subject to fulfilling all requirements set forth herein to receive the entirety of the Prize). The sole purpose of the Prize is to enable the winner to carry out their plans of making their dream a reality. Payments of the Prize will be made to the winner in one payment of USD $10,000. Participation in the Contest constitutes Entrant’s (as defined below) full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules. Entrant is free to disclaim the prize and status as Entrant, and as a result will not be eligible to receive the prize. The Contest is sponsored and administered by Ascent Funding, LLC, (“Ascent”) 501 W Broadway Ste. A150, San Diego, CA 92101 (“Sponsor”). All decisions related to, as well as all interpretation of, these Official Rules by Sponsor are final and binding. While this Contest may be promoted via social media websites, such websites are not affiliated with Sponsor or this Contest. This Contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or any other site or medium that might host content where information about this Contest is posted or published (collectively “Content Hosts”). Entrant is providing information only to Sponsor and not to Content Hosts.
    Contest Period. The Contest begins at on October 10, 2022 and ends on November 11, 2022 (the “Contest Period”). The winner will be selected the week of December 9, 2022. Only entries submitted and received during the Contest Period will be accepted. Sponsor is the official timekeeper of this Contest.
    3. Eligibility. The Contest is open only to: students that are (i) enrolled in a degree program at least half-time, or technical skills training program (for example, a coding bootcamp) and (ii) legal residents of one of the fifty United States or the District of Columbia or DACA status student, age 18 or older. Employees or agents of Sponsor or its parent or affiliate companies or suppliers, as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings and children) and household members of each such employee or agent, are not eligible. Legal entities are not eligible to enter. Eligibility is contingent upon agreement to, compliance with, and fulfillment of all requirements of these Official Rules. Participation in the Contest in any way, including submission of any entry or the partial completion of any act of entry or any other step taken to participate in the Contest in any manner, constitutes full and unconditional agreement with all provisions of these Official Rules.
    4. How to Enter. NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY. PURCHASES DO NOT INCREASE ODDS OF WINNING. Each eligible individual who completes the entry requirements during the Contest Period will become an “Entrant.” Each Entrant will receive one entry in the Contest. Limit one entry per person . You may enter the Contest by completing the following steps:
  2. Create a 30-90 second video explaining how you plan to use the money to pursue your dreams and submit the video through the contact form below.
    b. Complete the contact form below then “Submit” your entry to indicate your agreement to these Official Rules and submit the form for an entry.

 

By submitting your Submission, you agree that it conforms to the Guidelines and Content Restrictions as defined below and that Sponsor, in its sole discretion, may remove your Submission and disqualify you from the Contest if it believes that your Submission fails to conform to the Guidelines and Content Restrictions.

 

Guidelines:

 

  • Files submitted must be through Second Street at the link [here]
  • Acceptable file formats include 3gp, asf, avi, divx, dv, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, mpg, mpeg, mpeg-ps, ts, mxf, ogg, ogv, wmv
  • Uploads cannot exceed 500MB.

 

 

Content Restrictions:

  • The Submission must be the entrant’s original work;
  • The Submission should not feature material that violates or infringes another’s rights, including but not limited to privacy, publicity, trademark, copyright, or other intellectual property rights, or that constitutes copyright infringement, including music;
  • The Submission must not disparage Sponsor or any party or competitor of Sponsor;
  • The Submission should not feature brand names or trademarks other than those owned by Sponsor or the nominated school’s logo, which entrant has a limited license to use to incorporate in his/her Submission in this Contest;
  • The Submission must not contain material that is inappropriate, offensive, indecent, obscene, sexually explicit, hateful, tortious, defamatory, slanderous or libelous;
  • The Submission must not make references to or include alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco, or firearms/weapons, any activities that are or appear to be dangerous, or any political agenda;
  • The Submission must not contain material that promotes bigotry, racism, hatred or harm against any group or individual or promotes discrimination based on race, gender, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age; and
  • The Submission must not contain material that is unlawful, in violation of or contrary to the laws or regulations in any state where Submission is created.

By uploading a Submission to the website during the Contest Period, you agree that you are providing consent to give Sponsor a royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, create derivative works from, and display such Submissions in whole or in part, on a worldwide basis, and to incorporate it into other works, in any form, media or technology now known or later developed, including for promotional or marketing purposes, whether in connection with the Contest or otherwise. Each entrant must have permission from all individuals who appear or who are mentioned in the Submission (if any) or participated in the creation of the Submission to use their name, voice, and/or likeness in the Submission and to grant the rights set forth herein.  If requested, entrant must be able to provide such permissions in a form acceptable to Sponsor. If requested, entrant will sign any documentation that may be required for Sponsor or its designees to make use of the non-exclusive rights entrant is granting to use the Submission.

NOTE: Sponsor reserves the right to edit, crop, blur, or otherwise revise any Submission to remove or obscure any logos or other content that may be of concern to Sponsor, in its sole discretion.

 

Winner Determination

 

After the conclusion of the Contest Period, a panel of qualified judges determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion will judge all eligible Contest Submissions based on the following criteria (“Judging Criteria”):

  • Originality/creativity (40%)
  • Ability to deliver a message in a clear, cohesive, and impactful way (30%)
  • Effectiveness in addressing the contest prompt (30%)

 

On or about December 9, Sponsor will select the highest-scoring Submissions as the potential Prize winners.  In the event of a tie between any Submissions, the entrant whose tied Submission received the highest score for the Contest, as determined by the qualified judges, in their sole discretion, will be deemed the applicable potential Prize winner for that Prize. Sponsor will not disclose judging scores.

 

  1. Further Conditions of Entry. By entering or participating in this Contest, Entrant agrees to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsor and its authorized representatives, which are final and binding in all matters concerning this Contest. Entries not legitimately submitted in accordance with these Official Rules are void. Only qualified entries received by Sponsor during the Contest Period are eligible for participation. All entries become the property of Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned. Entrants may be required to provide the following information to be eligible for a Contest Prize: first name, last name, confirmation of age and residency, email address, phone number (including area code), and how you currently plan to pay for education (collectively or individually, “Personal Information”). All requested Personal Information must be provided to participate in the Contest and to be eligible to win a Prize. Unintelligible entries; entries with incomplete, invalid, incorrect or noncurrent information; entries that are counterfeit, damaged or tampered with in any way; and entries with printing, production or typographical errors may be disqualified. Entries that are late, lost, damaged, misdirected, stolen or not delivered are not the responsibility of Sponsor and will be disqualified. Sponsor is not responsible for erroneous, expired, canceled, fraudulent, or fake information provided during Contest. Proof of sent entry and/or entry receipt (such as a copy of a “thank you” screen or message) does not constitute proof of actual receipt of entry by Sponsor for purposes of this Contest. Participation must be by Entrants who are eligible individuals. Participation by any other individual or entity, or originating at any other website, email address, or phone number, including, but not limited to, commercial Contest, subscription notification, automated entry, and Contest entering service sites, is invalid and will be disqualified from this Contest. Any attempt by any Entrant to obtain more than the stated number of entries by using multiple email addresses, phone numbers, identities, registrations, or logins; entries through a sweepstakes club or similar entity; or any other unauthorized method of entry will void all of Entrant’s entries and Entrant will be disqualified from the entire Contest. Submitting mass entries or entries generated by an automated program, script, or macro, or the use of any other similar device, program, or method to enter this Contest is prohibited and will result in disqualification. In the event of a dispute as to the identity of Entrant, the authorized account holder of the email address submitted with the entry will be deemed to be Entrant. The potential winner may be required to show proof of being the authorized account holder. The “authorized account holder” of an email address is the natural person assigned to that email address by any organization (business, educational institution, etc.) responsible for assigning accounts to that email address. If the identity of the individual who actually participated in the Contest cannot be resolved to Sponsor’s satisfaction, the affected individual’s entry will be deemed ineligible. Sponsor may, in its sole discretion, disqualify any Entrant or individual it finds to be in violation of these Official Rules, tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest (including, but not limited to, tampering with websites, email addresses, or phone numbers), or acting in a non-sportsmanlike or disruptive manner. Any attempt to undermine the operation of the Contest may be a violation of criminal or civil law, and Sponsor may seek damages to the fullest extent permitted by law from any person it finds to have made such an attempt.
  2. There is one $10,000 prize available. Approximate retail value (ARV) of the prize is $10,000. Prize will be paid via direct deposit to the winner’s checking or savings account or in the form of a physical check. There may be a delay of up to 60 days between the date the winner earns a reward and the date the payment is made. Ascent is not responsible if any physical or electronic check/payment is lost, stolen, or destroyed or if the Reward is used without permission. Risk of Loss. The risk of loss and title for a Reward pass to the recipient upon Ascent’s electronic transmission of a Reward to the designated recipient, or our delivery to the carrier, whichever is applicable. Ascent is not responsible if any Reward is lost, stolen, or destroyed or is used without permission. If the potential winner is disqualified, not eligible, or for any other reason cannot accept the prize as stated, then Sponsor will randomly select a new potential winner from the remaining pool of eligible Entrants. Where legal, the winner may be required to submit, without alteration and in the form provided by Sponsor, a completed and signed Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability & Publicity Release (the “Release”), along with a properly completed U.S. Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Form W-9, within three (3) business days of notification to be eligible to receive the prize. The winner may be issued a U.S. Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Form 1099 and related tax forms for the actual value of the prize provided by Sponsor. Any federal, state, local, and other income taxes on prizes are the sole responsibility of the winner. Only one (1) prize as set forth in these Official Rules will be awarded per Contest Period. In the event that any mistake, failure, or discrepancy causes more than one (1) prize as set forth in these Official Rules to be promoted, noticed, or claimed, Sponsor may award one (1) prize by conducting a random drawing from among all legitimate, unawarded, eligible prize claims.
  3. Winner Determination and Verification. One (1) potential winner will be randomly drawn promptly after close of the Contest Period from the pool of all eligible entries received during the Contest Period. Potential winner is subject to eligibility verification by Sponsor, whose decisions are final and binding. An Entrant is not a winner of the Prize, even if notified of being a winner and/or issued any item of value, unless and until Entrant’s eligibility has been, and continues to be verified to the satisfaction of Sponsor. To be verified as eligible to receive a prize, the potential winner must fulfill all requirements and continue to comply with all terms and conditions of these Official Rules, and not be disqualified for any reason. The potential winner will be notified by email. If the potential winner cannot be contacted using the information provided in the entry or fails to respond to Sponsor’s attempt to notify the potential winner of selection within three (3) business days of notification; if the prize or notification is returned as undeliverable or yields an error or undeliverable type “bounce back” email (regardless if the message is ultimately delivered to the recipient); if the potential winner fails to sign and return the Release, Form W-9 or any other required documentation within three (3) business days of notification or fails to comply with these Official Rules; if the potential winner is unable or unwilling to accept the prize as stated; or if the potential winner cannot be verified as eligible for any reason at any time before, during, or after the Contest Period; if the potential winner is unwilling to post they won a portion of the Ascent Scholarship Giveaway on their Instagram story after verification and confirmation as a winner, the potential winner may be disqualified and forfeit the prize and an alternate potential winner will be randomly selected from among the remaining eligible entries. In the event that an Entrant is disqualified as the potential winner for any reason, the foregoing process will be repeated until the prize is awarded.
  4. Limitations of Liability. By entering or participating in this Contest or the prize in any way, each Entrant agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless, and thereby does release and discharge Sponsor, Content Hosts, and each of their respective subsidiaries, affiliates, vendors, advertising or promotional agencies and distributors, and each of their respective parent companies and each such company’s officers, directors, employees and agents, as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings and children) and household members of each such individual (collectively, the “Released Parties”) from and against any loss, damage, injury, claim, or cause of action related in any way whatsoever to this Contest, these Official Rules, or the rights, consents and licenses granted by Entrants to Sponsor under these Official Rules, including, but not limited to, infringement of any right of privacy, publicity or intellectual property; threatened or actual injury, loss or damage to any person, including death and disability; defamation or portrayal in a false light (intentional and unintentional); invasion of privacy; and damage to or loss of property, arising out of such Entrant’s participation in the Contest or receipt or use, non-use or misuse of the prize. In no event will Released Parties be responsible or liable for any damages or losses of any kind, including indirect, incidental, consequential or punitive damages arising out of this Contest. (Some jurisdictions may not allow the limitations or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages or exclusion of implied warranties. Check local laws for restrictions regarding these limitations or exclusions.) Entrants waive any right to claim ambiguity in these Official Rules. The Released Parties are not responsible for: (1) technical failures of any kind; (2) incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by Entrants, any internet or email service provider, any promotional or advertising agency, printing or computing errors, or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest; (3) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Contest; (4) technical or human error that may occur in the administration of the Contest, the processing of entries or the announcement of the winner and prize; (5) any injury or damage to persons or property that may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, by Entrant’s participation in the Contest; (6) the receipt, use or misuse of the prize; or (7) any other errors in any materials, information or announcements associated with the Contest. If for any reason an Entrant’s entry is confirmed to have been erroneously deleted, lost, or otherwise destroyed or corrupted by Sponsor, Entrant’s sole remedy is another entry in the Contest, subject to availability and provided that the Contest Period has not then expired. EACH ENTRANT WAIVES CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE § 1542 (AND ALL SIMILAR LAWS OF ANY STATE OR TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES), WHICH READS: “A GENERAL RELEASE DOES NOT EXTEND TO CLAIMS WHICH THE CREDITOR DOES NOT KNOW OR SUSPECT TO EXIST IN HIS FAVOR AT THE TIME OF EXECUTING THE RELEASE, WHICH IF KNOWN BY HIM MUST HAVE MATERIALLY AFFECTED HIS SETTLEMENT WITH THE DEBTOR.” EACH ENTRANT REPRESENTS AND WARRANTS FULL UNDERSTANDING OF, AND ACKNOWLEDGES THE SIGNIFICANCE AND CONSEQUENCE OF, WAIVER OF CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE § 1542 (AND ALL SIMILAR LAWS OF ANY STATE OR TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES).
  5. License from Entrant. To the extent allowed by law, participation in the Contest in any way and/or acceptance of the prize constitutes winner’s irrevocable consent for, and grant of a non-exclusive, sub-licensable and assignable license to Sponsor to use, publish, post, or display winner’s name, likeness, photograph, voice, opinions, statements, prize information, biographical information, and/or hometown and state, province, or territory, regardless of whether altered, modified, distorted, edited, or used alone or with other material, in Sponsor’s sole discretion, for promotional, advertising, trade, and publicity purposes in a winner’s list and in any medium now known or later discovered, worldwide and in perpetuity, without review or approval by winner, and without further notice, payment, or consideration of any kind to winner. All rights, consents and licenses granted to Sponsor under these Official Rules will survive the termination of this Contest. Winner’s consent and license may only be revoked in writing, and the mere ending of this Contest or Contest Period is not sufficient to revoke such consent or license.
  6. Right to Modify or Cancel. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Official Rules will not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. In the event any provision is found invalid or unenforceable, these Official Rules will otherwise remain in effect in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or unenforceable provision was never included. Sponsor’s failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules does not constitute a waiver of that provision. Sponsor may cancel, suspend and/or modify the Contest or any part of it, in any way, if Sponsor determines in its sole discretion that the Contest is not capable of executing as Sponsor intended, or that any mistake, clerical, or typographical error, omission, fraud, technical failure, tampering, computer virus, or other factor, technical or otherwise, beyond Sponsor’s reasonable control, impairs or may impair Sponsor’s ability to properly conduct the Contest, subject to any applicable law or regulation. In such event, Sponsor will award the prize by conducting a random drawing from among the eligible entries received up to the time of the cancellation, suspension, or modification of the Contest. Inclusion in such random drawing is Entrant’s exclusive remedy under such circumstances.
  7. Our Right to Use Your Content. We may use Your Content in a number of different ways, including publicly displaying it, reformatting it, incorporating it into advertisements and other works, creating derivative works from it, promoting it, distributing it, and allowing others to do the same in connection with their own websites and media platforms (“Other Media”). As such, you hereby irrevocably grant us world-wide, perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free, assignable, sublicensable, transferable rights to use Your Content for any purpose. Please note that you also irrevocably grant the users of the Site and any Other Media the right to access Your Content in connection with their use of the Site and any Other Media. Finally, you irrevocably waive, and cause to be waived, Ascent and its users any claims and assertions of moral rights or attribution with respect to Your Content. By “use” we mean use, copy, publicly perform and display, reproduce, distribute, modify, translate, remove, analyze, commercialize, and prepare derivative works of Your Content.
  8. Ownership. As between you and Ascent, you own Your Content. We own the Ascent Content, including but not limited to visual interfaces, interactive features, graphics, blogs, videos, social media (Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook) posts, design, compilation, including, but not limited to, our compilation of User Content and other Site Content, computer code, products, software, aggregate user review ratings, and all other elements and components of the Site excluding Your Content, User Content and Third Party Content. We also own the copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade names, and other intellectual and proprietary rights throughout the world (“IP Rights”) associated with the Ascent Content and the Site, which are protected by copyright, trade dress, patent, trademark laws and all other applicable intellectual and proprietary rights and laws. As such, you may not modify, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works or adaptations of, publicly display or in any way exploit any of the Ascent Content in whole or in part except as expressly authorized by us. Except as expressly and unambiguously provided herein, we do not grant you any express or implied rights, and all rights in and to the Site and the Ascent Content are retained by us.
  9. Advertising. Ascent and its licensees may publicly display advertisements and other information adjacent to or included with Your Content. You may be compensated for such advertisements. The manner, mode and extent of such advertising are subject to change without specific notice to you.
  10. Except where prohibited by law, Entrant agrees that: (1) all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Contest or the prize will be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the appropriate federal or state court located in San Diego County, California; and (2) all claims, judgments and awards will be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with entering this Contest, but in no event attorneys’ fees. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights or obligations of Entrant or Sponsor in connection with the Contest or the prize, are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules, no matter what jurisdiction, that would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than as stated.
  11. Privacy. By entering this Contest, Entrant agrees to Sponsor’s collection, use, and retention of Entrant’s Personal Information submitted in connection with the Contest for communications about the Contest and to send marketing emails to Entrants. Unsubscribe instructions will be provided in each marketing email. Personal Information collected from Entrant is subject to Sponsor’s privacy policy, which can be found at https://www.ascentfunding.com/privacy-notice/, and by entering this Contest, Entrant agrees to this Privacy Policy.
  12. Official Rules and Winner’s List.For a copy of these Official Rules or the winner’s list, print the requestor’s name, address, city, state or province/territory and zip or postal code on a 3×5″ postcard and mail it to Ascent Funding, 501 W Broadway Ste. A150, San Diego, CA 92101, by three (3) months after close of the Contest Period. Specify if the request is for a copy of these Official Rules and/or the winner’s list. Limit one request per person, per household.