• About Us
    • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Protect Borrowers Alumni
    • Advisory Board
    • Fellows
    • Careers
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • Federal Student Loans
      • Delivering Debt Relief
        • Public Service Loan Forgiveness
        • Income-Driven Repayment
        • Closed School Discharge
        • Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) Discharge
        • Borrower Defense to Repayment
        • Joint Consolidation
      • Federal Loan Servicing Abuse
        • MOHELA
        • Navient
        • Nelnet/Great Lakes
        • Aidvantage/MAXIMUS
        • Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency
        • ACS
        • White Labeling
      • Default & Collections
        • Treasury Offset Program
        • Social Security
      • Incarcerated Borrower Relief
      • Federal Oversight
    • Predatory Lending & Private Credit
      • Shadow Student Debt
      • Private Student Lending
        • Income-Share Agreements
        • Bankruptcy Barriers
        • Bootcamps
      • Surveillance Credit & Big Tech
      • Scam Schools
        • For-Profit Colleges
        • Online Program Managers
    • Free College
      • Institutional Debt
    • Workplace Debt & Labor Exploitation
      • Stay-or-Pays & TRAPs
        • Training Repayment Agreement Provisions (TRAPs)
      • Non-competes
      • Other Employer-Driven Debt
    • Public Corruption & Attacks On Public Power
    • Racial & Economic Justice
      • Educational Redlining
      • Marginalized Populations
        • Older Borrowers
        • Women & Debt
        • Black Borrowers
        • Latino/a Borrowers
        • LGBTQ+ Borrowers
        • Incarcerated Borrowers
        • Veteran Borrowers
        • NCSLT
    • State & Local Projects
      • State Legislative Advocacy
        • Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights
        • Private Student Loan State Legislation
        • State TRAPs Legislative Toolkit
        • Online Program Managers
      • State Regulatory Advocacy
      • State Law Enforcement
      • State Research
      • Student Debt in the South
      • Cities Partnership
  • Media & Events
    • Media & Events
    • Events
    • Press Releases
    • News Clips
    • Blog
    • Video
  • Resources & Litigation
    • Resources & Litigation
    • Reports
    • Letters & Memos
    • Testimony & Remarks
    • Deep Dives
    • Legislative Toolkits
    • Polling
    • Investigations
    • FOIAs
    • Fact Sheets
    • Lawsuits
    • Amicus Briefs
  • Get Help
  • Get Involved
  • Mobile Social
  1. What We Do
  2. Predatory Lending & Private Credit
  3. Private Student Lending
  4. Bootcamps

Bootcamps

We are fighting to hold bootcamp operators accountable for years of mismanagement and abuse.

In the years after the Great Recession, students and workers who struggled to navigate a weak labor market were encouraged to “reskill”—learning computer science and other tech-adjacent skills to better compete for scarce jobs. Private companies seized on students’ and workers’ economic anxiety, marketing short-term, online “coding bootcamps” that offered certificates and other non-degree credentials and promised access to good-paying jobs in tech.

These bootcamp operators often worked in partnership with subprime private student lenders, driving students and workers deeply into debt with little to show for it. Students who attended these programs often struggled to find jobs in tech and many were victims of unaccredited training scams that offered no skills or expertise at all.

What We’re Doing

Bootcamp operators’ history of fraud, abuse, and unlawful conduct made them targets for public enforcement actions, private lawsuits, and congressional oversight. See below to learn more about our work to hold bootcamp operators and private lenders accountable.

Latest Work


  • Blogs
    Jul 9, 2025

    Pell Grants for Diploma Mills? The Republican Budget Bill Could Bankroll Some of the Shadiest Short-Term Training Programs

    Since the beginning of the second Trump Administration, the EdTech industry has been conspicuously silent as its college and university clients face escalating financial and ideological attacks. One reason for this deafening silence could be the industry’s anticipation of supercharged access to federal education funds now that the Republican-controlled Congress has passed its massive budget reconciliation bill.

    More


  • News Clips
    Apr 2, 2025

    A shady, shuttered tech bootcamp may be sneaking back online / And the watchdog agency that oversaw it is being dismantled.

    More


  • Blogs
    Apr 1, 2025

    Same Fraud, New Name: Disgraced Prehired CEO Relaunches Predatory Company as “FastTrack”

    With the CFPB shuttered, advocates call on state regulators and Attorneys General to protect students and borrowers from the repeat offender.

    More


  • Press Releases
    Apr 1, 2025

    As CFPB Enforcement Folds, Predatory Tech Company Prehired Defies Government Order to Cease Operations and Continues Defrauding Students

    SBPC released the results of a months-long investigation into the tech company Prehired, exposing how the firm had resumed its scheme to push worthless credentials on students, paid for via its own predatory private student lending operation.

    More


  • Investigations Letters & Memos
    Apr 1, 2025

    Predatory Tech Company Prehired Defies Government Order to Cease Operations and Continues Defrauding Students as “FastTrack”

    SBPC released the results of a months-long investigation into the tech company Prehired, exposing how the firm had resumed its scheme to push worthless credentials on students, paid for via its own predatory private student lending operation.

    More


  • Blogs
    Jan 24, 2025

    Critical Trump Administration Nominees Should Raise Major Red Flags for Working Families with Student Debt

    President Donald Trump was officially sworn into office, marking the beginning of the second Trump Administration. Millions of Americans with student loan debt are bracing to see how this new administration will approach the student loan debt crisis and whether President Trump will actually live up to his promise of lowering the costs of everyday life. Their concerns are completely understandable. 

    More


  • Blogs
    Jan 22, 2025

    A Warning for the New Congress: Don’t Take a Neoliberal Turn on Student Borrower Protection

    Students and education access should not be at the mercy of risky credit markets.

    More


  • Press Releases
    Oct 17, 2024

    Advocates Cheer As CFPB Takes On Private Lender, Climb Credit, for Peddling Predatory Loans for Bootcamps

    Read SBPC’s latest press release.

    More


  • Blogs
    Aug 7, 2024

    The Potential Fallout of 2U’s Bankruptcy: A Harsh Reality for Students

    2U, Inc.’s bankruptcy filing has broad implications for partnerships with third-party OPMs. Policymakers must ensure that educational quality is never compromised for corporate gain and that students have stronger protections and better oversight.

    More


  • Blogs
    Jul 25, 2024

    Mounting Evidence from State Watchdog Report Proves That, Yet Again, Public Universities Are Selling Out Students to For-Profit Companies

    Over the last few years, SBPC has been sounding the alarm on the risks of university partnerships with Online Program Management (OPM) companies and how these for-profit entities harm students. Now, a report released by the California State Auditor has confirmed many of the worst concerns we have raised.

    More

1 2 3 … 6
NEXT

EXPLORE MORE


Bankruptcy Barriers
Shadow student debt
Income Share Agreements
Institutional Debts
Private Student Lending
Predatory Lending & Private Credit
Get involved
Get Help

Join our Email List
Stay informed about the fight to protect Americans with debt.

"*" indicates required fields

Name
  • About
  • What We Do
  • Media & Events
  • Resources & Litigation
  • Get Involved

© Copyright 2025 Protect Borrowers. Contact Us
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and this Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.