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Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

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Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#101

Post by balls187 »

sattoshi wrote: post #65
balls187 wrote: post #46

How will you prevent this from becoming predatory as pressure for improving the bottom line mounts? It feels like a very fine line between altruism and taking advantage of ignorance.

How exactly is this taking advantage of anybody?

The exact terms aren't disclosed, and what is disclosed is too open ended.

This is what I could get from their website.

https://lambdaschool.com/about

> Attending Lambda School is completely free up-front, and students pay back a portion of their income after they find a high-paying job.

> If, for some reason, a student is unable to find a job with a salary above the set threshold, they are not required to pay anything. The total amount of repayment is also capped at a pre-determined maximum amount.

How long is the statute of limitations before I no longer have to pay?

What if I am unable to get a job, and then later do a paid-for program that does land a job?

What if I get a job as in QA, Program/Product Management?

What will stop you from changing your terms mid-course and require me to accept new terms before finishing?

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#102

Post by sethbannon »

How is this different than Make School's model (also a YC company)? I understand they've been doing this for some time, and even offer a stipend to people who are accepted in the program to help pay for housing and other costs.

https://www.makeschool.com/product-college/admissions#tuitio...

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#103

Post by austenallred »

sethbannon wrote: post #102

How is this different than Make School's model (also a YC company)? I understand they've been doing this for some time, and even offer a stipend to people who are accepted in the program to help pay for housing and other costs. https://www.makeschool.com/product-college/admissions#tuitio...

A full ISA from Make School would cost you approximately $90,000, and would require you to move to San Francisco for 2+ years. Nothing against Make School, we're just going after a very different market.

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#104

Post by austenallred »

newmanships wrote: post #93
austenallred wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How do you know that your graduates are or aren't making more than 50k? Great question. In addition to our income share agreement, each student submits a form to the IRS that will essentially copy us on their taxes. We have annual reconciliation based on those numbers to see if they match a student's self-reported numbers. > You're essentially giving your students a loan and then having them repay it once they star…

Came across your site the other day. I was wondering is the 17% from their base salary before taxes? So they (if in say California) pay federal, state, & you guys off the top? Great idea either way!

Before taxes.

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#105

Post by austenallred »

bipbip wrote: post #100
austenallred wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ya, holberton is solid. It would be difficult or impossible for most of our students to move to San Francisco unpaid for two years.

They get paid pretty fast though at Holberton, as they start their first internship after 6 months in.

Ya I've got nothing against Holberton, it's just not a model that works for the vast majority of our students.

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#107

Post by austenallred »

jrs95 wrote: post #106

I really hope this model ends up growing beyond CS and into other fields as well. The traditional 4 year university model could definitely use the competition.

We're launching other programs soon, starting with AI/Machine Learning, bioinformatics, and data science.

We plan on becoming a full blown university at some point.

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#109

Post by dragonfax »

This isn't new. And with schools like this, they say "good job" or tech job, but they mean "any job" (that pays over 50k). I've had friends screwed by this before.

If you can't get hired because you went to a "dev bootcamp" or just aren't good enough with code after spending all that time in school, they'll come after your for that car mechanic pay check.

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#110

Post by austenallred »

dragonfax wrote: post #109

This isn't new. And with schools like this, they say "good job" or tech job, but they mean "any job" (that pays over 50k). I've had friends screwed by this before. If you can't get hired because you went to a "dev bootcamp" or just aren't good enough with code after spending all that time in school, they'll come after your for that car mechanic pay check.

That's simply not true
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