 Higher education has been shown to play a significant role in developing a country, and UNESCO reports that "higher education makes a significant contribution to reduction in absolute as well as relative poverty,"

In 2010, Kiva began a Student Microloans program that allowed lenders to help support students seeking access to higher education.Student loans are funded with the same crowd-funding approach, and typically students have 1–3 years to pay back their loans.In 2014, the education offerings on Kiva expanded greatly when the organization began a deeper partnership with Vittana.