• 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
    • Other Household Debt
    • 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
    • Comments
    • 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


  • Investigations Letters & Memos
    Mar 11, 2021

    SBPC Investigation Finds Coding Bootcamps Offering ISAs May Be Unlawfully Depriving Students of the Ability to Protect Themselves from Fraud

    In a memo, the SPBC highlights how ISA companies are unlawfully depriving students of the ability to protect themselves from fraud by leaving out of their ISA contracts language required under the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) “Holder Rule.”

    More


  • Blogs
    Mar 11, 2021

    Coding Bootcamps Offering ISAs May Be Unlawfully Depriving Students of the Ability to Protect Themselves from Fraud

    The results of a new investigation published today by the SBPC offer new evidence that for-profit coding bootcamps and ISA companies may be systemically violating federal law by omitting a legally mandated term from the contracts underlying students’ ISAs—language required under the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) “Holder Rule.”

    More


  • Blogs
    Jan 26, 2021

    Washington Delivered COVID Aid to the Private Student Loan Industry. It’s Time to Protect Borrowers.

    Throughout the pandemic, millions of borrowers owing hundreds of billions of dollars in privately owned student loans have been left with little or no relief.

    More


  • Blogs
    Jan 8, 2021

    Research Roundup: The Student Debt Crisis is a Crisis for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurship

    An emerging body of evidence suggests that student debt is a growing drag on the small business sector and on new business formation. This research suggests that addressing the student debt crisis will be a key step in promoting the resilience and vibrancy of the small business sector during and after the pandemic.

    More


  • Blogs
    Oct 21, 2020

    The CFPB Must Investigate Climb Credit and Protect Borrowers Across the Dangerous, High-Cost Shadow Student Debt Market

    SBPC has uncovered additional evidence of troubling practices and possible borrower harm by Climb Credit, a specialty lender that offers loans students can use to finance attendance at job training programs ranging from coding bootcamps to teacher training courses.

    More


  • Investigations Letters & Memos
    Aug 21, 2020

    Advocates Sound Alarm on PayPal’s Education Financing Partnerships with Over 150 For-Profit Schools

    SBPC, Allied Progress, Americans for Financial Reform, and Student Debt Crisis sent letters to the CEO of PayPal, Inc. and its regulators warning that the tech firm may be driving significant harm to borrowers attending for-profit schools.

    More


  • Blogs
    Jul 28, 2020

    Innovation or Discrimination? Fair Lending Risks and ISAs

    Although the U.S. is desperately in need of solutions for the student debt crisis—and the accompanying racial and ethnic disparities—features of existing Income Share Agreements threaten to exacerbate these inequalities.

    More


  • Press Releases
    Jun 1, 2020

    Advocates File Complaint with Federal Trade Commission, Urge Enforcement Action Against Vemo Education for Its Deceptive Marketing of Income-Share Agreements to Students

    The National Consumer Law Center and the Student Borrower Protection Center filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) urging it to investigate Vemo Education, Inc. (Vemo) for unfair and deceptive business practices under the Federal Trade Commission Act in the marketing and promotion of income-share agreements (ISAs) for students at certain universities.

    More


  • Blogs
    May 6, 2020

    As Coronavirus Crisis Rages, ISA Companies Ramp Up to Reap the Reward

    Before the ink had dried on 30 million Americans’ layoff notices, companies peddling “income share agreements” (ISAs) were already trotting out crafty PR pitches, misleading marketing materials, and new predatory programs aimed at exploiting this crisis.

    More


  • Testimony & Remarks
    Mar 7, 2019

    Testimony of Seth Frotman Before the United States Congress House Financial Services Committee

    Seth Frotman’s testimony at the Congressional hearing, “Putting Consumers First? A Semi-Annual Review of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.”

    More

PREV
1 … 4 5 6

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 2026 Protect Borrowers. Contact Us
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and this Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.