The Plaid company is launching its third annual Request for Startups (RFS), focusing on student debt management and other areas of financial services. The total US student debt is at an all-time high of $1.6 trillion, with the average outstanding debt being between $20k and $25k. The RFS aims to help improve the lives of student loan borrowers by addressing underserved areas such as debt management tools, automated paydown, lender servicing, debt collections, last-mile remittance, digitizing government benefits, cross-vertical financial infrastructure, and compliance-as-a-service. Plaid is offering resources and connections to selected startups, with a possibility of up to $12k in free usage for new companies.