No Tuition Until Hired - ConTech University Masters in CS/AI/Data

[smartdegree]

Others haven't done it because their students are able to take out student loans. Why put your own finances on the line when you can risk someone else's money instead?

It could potentially be used as a marketing ploy to attract or "steal" students from competitors.  A lot of the for-profits have similar value propositions.  But a for-profit that offers a study now pay later scheme (depending on whether you get a job) might beat out a competing for-profit school that has no such option. 

Not only will this scheme potentially benefit a for-profit by increasing student enrollment, it also provides a safety mechanism for students, as the school now has an incentive to make sure its students get a good paying job after their studies.  As a result, everyone wins in this scenario.  It's just my opinion, but I tend to believe that a school that offers a study now pay later scheme is more trustworthy as they believe enough in their ability to get students a good job.  Win-win all the way for both the school and the student.

While I agree with you that is a good concept that incentivizes the school to help you achieve gainful employment, their marketing specifically says you won't pay until "graduating and getting a high-paying job," but once you dig a bit deeper, they make you start paying $500/month once you are making $30k/year. That may be considered a "high-paying job" in some regions, but I don't know anywhere in the U.S. that would consider $30k to be "high pay." Also, they want you to keep them updated about your pay "Every 30 days, even if your job is outside of the tech industry." Essentially, if work full time at $15/hr(minimum wage where the "university" is located) in any job, you immediately have to start paying them $6k/year.

To their credit, they promise no interest or added fees and if you make less than $2500 a particular month, you can get that month off from paying. 

If it were me, I'd go for an accredited master's degree for a fraction of the price like Georgia Tech where you will have good career prospects.

Link to their payment plan

Link to their google maps listing(it's likely a single office in a random office building)

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Based in Palo Alto, yet they only offer online learning, ya right.

https://goo.gl/maps/mfqyoShLW3BjUxvq6

I agree with your sentiment.  My comment was about the study now pay later scheme (which I think is an innovative idea).  If that scheme were offered by more for-profit or online universities (e.g. Walden, Liberty, SNHU, Amberton, Phoenix, etc), that will increase options for a lot of people and prevent "predatory" schools from taking advantage of students.  Agree Georgia Tech definitely is a better deal, although I imagine not everyone can get in (and/or survive) that program.

[SteveFoerster]

Being state approved, it's not "scammy". Nor is it immediately alarming that it's not yet accredited, as every institution has to start somewhere.

But at twenty grand, even postpaid, it also doesn't seem like a very good deal compared with many, many alternatives that don't come with asterisks.

[MNomadic]

Being state approved, it's not "scammy". Nor is it immediately alarming that it's not yet accredited, as every institution has to start somewhere.

But at twenty grand, even postpaid, it also doesn't seem like a very good deal compared with many, many alternatives that don't come with asterisks.

I would consider their misleading marketing material scammy. Saying you won't have to pay until getting a high-paying job when their salary cutoff is below (full time)minimum wage for their location of Palo Alto, CA is scummy even if it isn't outright fraud(since "high pay" can be subjective).

https://www.minimum-wage.org/california/...nimum-wage

[LevelUP]

Being state approved, it's not "scammy". Nor is it immediately alarming that it's not yet accredited, as every institution has to start somewhere.

But at twenty grand, even postpaid, it also doesn't seem like a very good deal compared with many, many alternatives that don't come with asterisks

A boot camp doesn't have to be accredited or state-approved. But calling it a master's degree is scammy which is what I said. 

https://goo.gl/maps/mfqyoShLW3BjUxvq6

The building Con is supposedly located in, is owned by Regus, similar to WeWork. You can rent a virtual office for as little as $70 a month. This is a tiny step up from someone saying I'm located in Manhattan, New York because they rent a P.O. box there.

Look at these pay later boot camps oftentimes there is a $3000 deposit.

The fine print for the Con boot camp, as you said, is $30k a year employment, which anyone with a CompTIA A+ cert can get a tech support job and earn more than that.

Someone in the thread asked if it's a good business model.  If your costs are low and enough people don't break the contract and pay the full tuition, then it is a good business model.  Otherwise, it would cost a company at least double the tuition to sue someone for nonpaid tuition.  It is hard to sue someone across state lines for small amounts of money.

You can't find any reviews for the ConJob boot camp. Looks sketch to me.

[Flelm]

I agree with your sentiment.  My comment was about the study now pay later scheme (which I think is an innovative idea).  If that scheme were offered by more for-profit or online universities (e.g. Walden, Liberty, SNHU, Amberton, Phoenix, etc), that will increase options for a lot of people and prevent "predatory" schools from taking advantage of students.  Agree Georgia Tech definitely is a better deal, although I imagine not everyone can get in (and/or survive) that program.

I agree with the sentiment, but from a practical standpoint I don't think established schools would see the additional overhead of tracking all these graduates' accounts and job situation (and suing/using debt collection/etc.) as worthwhile, when they get the money guaranteed via student loans.

[smartdegree]

I agree with your sentiment.  My comment was about the study now pay later scheme (which I think is an innovative idea).  If that scheme were offered by more for-profit or online universities (e.g. Walden, Liberty, SNHU, Amberton, Phoenix, etc), that will increase options for a lot of people and prevent "predatory" schools from taking advantage of students.  Agree Georgia Tech definitely is a better deal, although I imagine not everyone can get in (and/or survive) that program.

I agree with the sentiment, but from a practical standpoint I don't think established schools would see the additional overhead of tracking all these graduates' accounts and job situation (and suing/using debt collection/etc.) as worthwhile, when they get the money guaranteed via student loans.

Good points.  I agree those are definitely factors that will make such an option challenging for many schools. 

It is interesting though that there are many bootcamps that are currently offering this payment scheme.  And for most of them, I think the cutoff to start repaying is 40K.  So far I haven't read any news about any of them filing for bankruptcy because of the payment scheme (but who knows 5-10 years from now).  Their tuition is also not cheap (range from 10K to 20K).  

https://meratas.com/blog/where-to-find-c...education/

Perhaps what can be done is some sort of hybrid model where people who do these bootcamps earn graduate credits that count towards a future masters degree at a partner university (agreement between the bootcamp and university).  That might work.  Universities already accept non-credit courses offered by Coursera so I don't see it's too much of a reach to also apply credits to reputable bootcamps.

[eLearner]

...is it a con? It's got con in the name.

Yeah, I don't know about that name. Weird. Even TheContrarian agrees, so we must be on to something.