Achieve Lending wants to give students as many options for college loans as possible, so it is starting a crowdfunding campaign on Fundable to raise $500,000 for operations.

The New York-based company has created a search engine for private student loans. Educational financing is an ever-growing market worth billions a year, as the cost of education is always rising. Lifelong education is also a trend that is on the rise as people go back to school for specialty training or career changes.

"We want to be a Kayak for student loans," said Allen Kors, founder of Achieve Lending, in an interview with VentureBeat. "Our users answer simple questions and, for free, we present them with a couple of side-by-side loan options that will help them pursue education."

Some of the problem is that the educational financing market is fragmented and inefficient. Part of the goal is to bring competition and transparency to student loans, and to expand options for students at a time when student loans sponsored by the federal government are contracting. Federal direct student loans outstanding rose $119 billion to $806.5 billion in 2014. That's a staggering amount for the U.S. alone.

Kors got the idea for Achieve Lending while struggling to pay off his own debts after graduating from Cornell University. He made uninformed decisions about taking out loans, he said, since there wasn't an alternative like Achieve Lending.

"The differentiator between us and our competitors is that we have a targeted audience, and they are pursuing education in a very wide range, from attending trade schools or taking specialty training to universities," Kors said. "We partner with lenders that will finance a wide range of educational alternatives."

The company launched its early prototype in January. Since March, it has added more than 2,100 affiliate partners among lenders and promoters. The site has about 10,000 monthly active users, mostly coming from the affiliate channel. It has generated 1,500 leads and closed about 10 loans. Among the sources of loans are new companies such as Common Bond, College Avenue, SoFi, LendKey, and Upstart.

Kors said the site is faster, more intuitive, and less complicated than its rivals, such as Lending Tree. The questionnaire takes about 30 seconds to fill out before Achieve Lending returns a list of the best financial options.

"It's a long sales cycle because these aren't books or movies," Kors said. "These are $30,000 or $40,000 loans. We generate revenue as lenders pay us for leads or loans. The key is that we are objective and are not biased. We are bringing transparency and impartiality to the industry."

By making education more accessible, Achieve Lending lets students get back to worry about their studies instead of money.

Achieve Lending hopes to raise $500,000 in its crowdfunding campaign on Fundable. It is potentially seeking investors who are offered a convertible note at 8 percent interest with a 15 percent discount. So yes, Kors may take out a loan to make Achieve Lending a success.

Kors is running the company himself, and he is working with four outside experts to help get Achieve Lending off the ground.