Some schools, and even bachelor’s degree programs, are offering students a "learn now, pay later" plan.
App Academy in San Francisco is one of those schools.
Skylar Prill is a student at the accelerated vocational school, where students learn code.
What sets these students apart? They're not paying a single penny.
“[Our unique differentiator is that] we only charge students once they find a job,” explains App Academy co-founder Kush Patel.
They say students who complete their 12-week course are finding jobs, and at prominent tech companies. Once they do, students pay App Academy about 20 percent of their first-year salary.
"They linked their fates to yours, and you knew they weren't going to leave you in the dust as soon as graduation day happened,” Prill says.
The academy is actually one of a handful of schools in the San Francisco Bay Area offering similar tuition models.
Make School offers a full bachelor’s degree in applied computer science. Similar to App Academy, students enrolled at Make go to school free until they land a job.
“You see this in everything from computer science to nursing, and I think in those kinds of careers, these financial dynamics will work,” says Make School co-founder Jeremy Rossman. “I don't want to claim it's the one silver bullet that will solve all of us higher ed, but I think it's a big part of the solution."
