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  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


  • Press Releases
    Jul 25, 2024

    “A Perverse Outcome”: Advocates Warn that 2U Bankruptcy Could Protect Executives at Students’ Expense

    2U’s bankruptcy comes as the company’s executives have taken a series of unsuccessful steps to shore up the failing firm.

    More


  • Press Releases
    Jun 12, 2024

    Advocates Cheer as Key House Committee Rejects Amendment That Will Harm Vulnerable Students, Borrowers and Jeopardize PSLF

    The proposal would have opened up the Pell Grant program to extra-short-term workforce training programs—as short as eight weeks long.

    More


  • Press Releases
    Apr 17, 2024

    CFPB Halts Silicon Valley Predatory Student Lending Scheme, Bans Disgraced Tech Founder from Student Loan Industry

    Austen Allred, pioneering “Income Share Agreement” loan shark and founder of for-profit coding bootcamp BloomTech (formerly “Lambda School”) is named in federal enforcement action; company and founder must cancel debt owed by some current and former students.

    More


  • Blogs
    Apr 11, 2024

    A Hidden Risk of Online Higher Education

    A new consumer protection lawsuit in Maine illustrates the risks to students and challenges for the higher education sector, and serves as a call to action for regulators.

    More


  • Press Releases
    Apr 2, 2024

    Advocates Sound Alarm: Online Ed-Tech Giant’s Looming Collapse Spells Disaster for its Student Loan Borrowers

    Today, SBPC and partners sent an urgent letter to the CFPB and the Department of Education warning about the potential collapse of ed tech giant 2U, inc.

    More


  • Press Releases
    Feb 27, 2024

    Advocates Urge Congress to Pump the Brakes on Workforce Pell Act, Urge Policymakers to Reject Deal That Will Harm Vulnerable Students, Borrowers and Jeopardize PSLF

    Proposal would open up the Pell Grant program to extra-short-term workforce training programs and give the green light to some of the most shady and predatory for-profit schools and OPMs to pad their bottom lines.

    More


  • Blogs
    Feb 13, 2024

    Students Should Not Bear the Financial Burden when Corporate Greed Shatters the Online Higher Education Market

    Researchers offer path for the Biden Administration to address hardship posed by student debt.

    More


  • Press Releases
    Dec 12, 2023

    Advocates Sound Alarm on Workforce Pell Act, Urge Congress to Reject Bail Out for Sham For-Profit and Online Training Companies That Target Vulnerable Workers

    SBPC urges lawmakers to dismiss the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act, H.R. 6585, that would deliver industry bailouts while leaving vulnerable students to pay the price.

    More


  • Blogs
    Jul 18, 2023

    With Their Action Against Prehired, the CFPB and Other Several States Took a Huge Step Forward. Now They Should Go Further.

    Last week, the CFPB and 11 states took action against Prehired, a sham “tech sales” bootcamp. Next, law enforcement should take action against Ejudicate (operating as “Brief”), the company that tried to help Prehired silence students by locking them out of court and into lopsided, back-room arbitration.

    More


  • Press Releases
    Jul 13, 2023

    States and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Take Major Action to Hold the Predatory Bootcamp Prehired Accountable for Illegal Student Lending and Debt Collection Practices

    Action by eleven states and the CFPB follows groundbreaking SBPC investigation and seeks relief for defrauded students.

    More

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