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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


  • Blogs
    Jun 7, 2023

    An Obscure Federal Publication Should Have Predatory Student Finance Companies Shaking in their Boots

    Buried in the Office of Federal Financial Management’s 2,000-page 2023 Compliance Supplement are some of the strongest signals to date that the Biden Administration intends to hold predatory student finance companies accountable.

    More


  • Letters & Memos
    May 5, 2023

    Letter to the University of California on Completing the Work of Protecting Students from Predatory Online Programs 

    The SBPC sends a letter applauding the University of California’s recent decision to ban fully online degrees, while urging it to fully protect students from predatory online program managers by also banning fully online non-degree programs.

    More


  • News Clips
    Mar 21, 2023

    When universities slap their names on for-profit coding boot camps

    “What you have is trusted brand-name schools, from community colleges to state universities, knowing that they have these valuable brands, and literally renting them out to for-profit companies.”—Ben Kaufman, director of research and investigations at the Student Borrower Protection Center

    More


  • Press Releases
    Mar 20, 2023

    New Investigation Exposes Years-Long Scheme by Private College and Failed Coding Bootcamp to Dupe Regulators and Push Predatory Loans on Low-Income Students

    The SBPC released a new report exposing a back-room deal between the failed for-profit coding bootcamp Make School and the nonprofit college Dominican University that aimed to mislead accreditors, state regulators, and prospective students while getting Make School access to federal student aid dollars.

    More


  • Reports
    Mar 20, 2023

    Selling Out Students: A Case Study in Brand-Name Schools Partnering with For-Profit Scammers to Make a Buck

    This report exposes a scheme by the failed for-profit coding bootcamp Make School, Inc. and the private non-profit college Dominican University to drive hundreds of largely low-income students to each take on thousands of dollars of predatory private student loans and, for some, federal student loans.

    More


  • Blogs
    Feb 23, 2023

    To Protect Student Loan Borrowers, the FDIC Must Double Down on its Newfound Effort to Weed Out Predatory Rent-A-Bank Schemes

    The FDIC’s recent action against TAB Bank should mark the start of a broader effort weed out predatory student loan rent-a-bank partnerships.

    More


  • Blogs
    Aug 23, 2022

    Income Share Agreements: Predatory Inclusion into a Deeply Unequal Education System

    Based on a review of various income share agreement structures and research on the workings of the ISA industry, we argue that, rather than a progressive alternative to student loans, ISAs are better characterized as reflecting a process of predatory inclusion.

    More


  • Blogs
    Jul 19, 2022

    OPM Contracts Reveal Risks for Students and Universities

    In a new paper, we analyzed hundreds of contracts between colleges and online program managers. What our analysis revealed about the risks OPMs might pose to students and the powers schools are handing over to private contractors is concerning.

    More


  • Blogs
    Jun 27, 2022

    Colorado’s Nation-Leading Work to Shine a Light on Shadow Student Debt Exposes Massive Risks for Borrowers

    Less than a year after passing the Student Loan Equity Act, Colorado’s nation-leading work to shed light on shadow student debt reveals key risks.

    More


  • Blogs
    Jun 15, 2022

    ED Needs to Begin Planning Now for the Possibility of a Large OPM Blowing Up

    Given problems at 2U, ED needs to lay the groundwork now to ensure that student loan borrowers have a clear path to relief if an OPM folds or suddenly changes its offerings due to problems at the corporate level—and it needs to make students and the public aware of those plans immediately.

    More

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