Make student contribution count
Hack the System is a movement for a fairer participation economy in universities. Its platform, Contribio, turns the contribution students already make into reputation they can prove, spending power with local vendors and a shared fund they decide how to use. It is run as a co-operative, and there is no crypto wallet to set up.
Why Hack the System?
Students give time, care and skill to their universities and communities every day. Most of it goes unrecorded, and the value it creates flows somewhere else. We think that is a system worth hacking.
Recognition that can't be bought
Reputation is earned only through validated contribution. It sets a student's tier and unlocks more of the platform, and money can never buy it.
Spending power that stays local
Points are spent with campus and local vendors, whose bonuses bring students back. Value circulates in the community instead of leaking out of it.
Owned by its members
Contribio is a project of Crystalisr Co-operative Society Ltd. Students vote on how the shared Opportunity Fund is used, and member universities agree prices together.
Private by design
Staff see summaries, not surveillance. Opening a student's full record needs a stated reason the student can see, and employers only see what a student chooses to share.
Rooted in community wealth building
Community wealth building keeps wealth in the places that create it, through plural ownership, local spending power and fair work. Hack the System brings those ideas to university life.
- Plural ownership. The platform belongs to a co-operative, not to outside shareholders.
- Local spending power. Rewards are spent with campus and local businesses.
- Fair recognition. Unpaid contribution becomes evidence that employers can trust.
- Shared benefit. Every funded reward adds 5% to a fund that students govern together.
Meet Contribio, our first platform
Contribio is a participation co-operative for universities. Students earn points for the contribution they already make: team projects, short lessons, helping at events and supporting other students.
Every point is worth 10p and counts twice: towards Reputation, a student's earned standing, and towards Balance, which they spend with campus vendors. Departments, employers and vendors fund the rewards, and a reward is only listed once the money behind it has been set aside.
Formerly HtS Agora. The student app, staff portal, vendor and sponsor portals and admin console are built and tested, ready for the pilot.
How it works
Contribute, get it validated, earn, and grow a shared fund along the way.
Contribute
Join sponsored team projects, complete short lessons, log micro-tasks, help at events and support other students.
Get it validated
A staff mentor signs off project milestones, lessons check understanding and events use a check-in code. Nothing pays out without funding and validation.
Earn, spend and decide
Points raise your Reputation and your Balance. Spend with campus vendors, grow the Opportunity Fund and vote on how it is used.
Who it's for
Each group gets something it can't easily get today, and each pays in for the part it values. Students give time and contribution, never money.
Students
Recognition, spending power, an evidenced skills passport and a say in the Opportunity Fund. Free, always.
Universities
Measurable participation and skills data, staff tools for projects, lessons and support, and a seat on the Consortium Council.
Sponsors and employers
Team challenges that show real skills, and credentials that students choose to share.
Campus vendors
Students who spend with you, a bonus that brings them back and promotion on the Spend page.
Our partners
The co-operative, university, community and business partners building the movement with us
Join the movement
Students, universities, employers, local businesses and co-operators: there is a part for everyone in a fairer participation economy.