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CFPB Takes Action Against Coding Boot Camp BloomTech and CEO Austen Allred

consumerfinance.gov

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Re: CFPB Takes Action Against Coding Boot Camp BloomTech and CEO Austen Allred

#71

Post by solardev »

LamaOfRuin wrote: post #27
solardev wrote: post #10

Are there any legit income-sharing schools of this type, tech or otherwise? Done fairly, it sounds like an interesting alternative to upfront tuition. On the surface it doesn't seem like a bad model, but of course it could be twisted to evil ends. From the article: > The loans carry substantial risk, as a single missed payment triggers a default and the remainder of the $30,000 “cap” becomes due immediately. > Studen…

The income based repayment plans for federal student loans are not that different (but without most of the sketchy practices). The fact that those are an option for accredited schools means I think it would be hard to make it work in a program like this. Especially if there is any sort of venture interest expecting actual returns. Actually educating people well is not cheap and I have not seen any of these programs t…

> income based repayment plans for federal student loans

Ah, I didn't realize that was a thing. That makes sense, thank you!

Re: CFPB Takes Action Against Coding Boot Camp BloomTech and CEO Austen Allred

#72

Post by solardev »

jswartz wrote: post #54
solardev wrote: post #10

Are there any legit income-sharing schools of this type, tech or otherwise? Done fairly, it sounds like an interesting alternative to upfront tuition. On the surface it doesn't seem like a bad model, but of course it could be twisted to evil ends. From the article: > The loans carry substantial risk, as a single missed payment triggers a default and the remainder of the $30,000 “cap” becomes due immediately. > Studen…

> I attended Launch School and found the founder and the program to be of high quality and integrity and the success of the capstone graduates speaks for itself.

Is this a quote from somewhere? (Or maybe just an errant > symbol?) Just wondering if it's your own experience or I missed something

Re: CFPB Takes Action Against Coding Boot Camp BloomTech and CEO Austen Allred

#73

Post by tedivm »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #33
dylan604 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of those situations lending support to the corporate death penalty. Allowing name changes like Worldcom, Spectrum, and so on to write off some liabilities while operating as if nothing happened.

> the corporate death penalty This is a silly idea lobbyists love because it sidesteps the actual corporate-destruction mechanism: liquidation to pay massive fines, license revocation and/or personal liability for senior management. Consider even the penalties here, which effectively ban Allred and Lambda from doing business. If you corporate death’d them, the contracts and assets would still exist. Allred would be u…

Everyone I know who speaks about a corporate death penalty includes liquidation to pay pack victims. I've never heard someone argue for the corporate death penalty without "liquidation" and "license revocation and/or personal liability for senior management."

The difference between this and a big fine:

* Lots of big fines aren't big enough to actually kill companies that deserve it,

* Fines tend to go to the government, while companies that deserve a "death penalty" often have victims who could use that money,

* Bankruptcy doesn't prevent people from starting another company, or board members who failed at oversight to join another board.

Re: CFPB Takes Action Against Coding Boot Camp BloomTech and CEO Austen Allred

#74

Post by solardev »

majormajor wrote: post #65
solardev wrote: post #10

Are there any legit income-sharing schools of this type, tech or otherwise? Done fairly, it sounds like an interesting alternative to upfront tuition. On the surface it doesn't seem like a bad model, but of course it could be twisted to evil ends. From the article: > The loans carry substantial risk, as a single missed payment triggers a default and the remainder of the $30,000 “cap” becomes due immediately. > Studen…

The math ends up wildly unfavorable unless you are EXTREMELY confident in your teaching/transformation abilities. If you look good on paper before the school then you don't need it and won't be motivated to share your income. So the applicant pool reduces itself to those who on-paper don't have great chances. So you need to cause a really big delta in the ability of those people to make good money in the industry for…

Well, presumably there's some people who wouldn't be able to afford the upfront tuition?

But you're right, $30k (in the worst case) is a lot of money to pay for less than a year of bootcamp.

Re: CFPB Takes Action Against Coding Boot Camp BloomTech and CEO Austen Allred

#75

Post by thiscatis »

hanniabu wrote: post #69
danso wrote: post #59

pg in 2019: > Lambda School will go on growing and transform education. Few will remember having been part of the jeering mob. https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Apaulg%20lambda&src=typed...

[flagged]

Not just pg, also the stripe founders have been fawning over Austen. They all knew it was a predatory “school” but backed it anyway.

Re: CFPB Takes Action Against Coding Boot Camp BloomTech and CEO Austen Allred

#77

Post by bagels »

imzadi wrote: post #66

I attended Lambda when it was first starting out. I think I was in the third or fourth cohort. At the time, the sell was that you didn't have to pay anything unless you got a job using the skills you learned from them. I was pretty naïve, I guess. Things seemed fine in the beginning. The instructors were good, and I liked that there were actual live classes. Things degraded very quickly. They kept changing the format…

Did you pay? Did they sue?

Re: CFPB Takes Action Against Coding Boot Camp BloomTech and CEO Austen Allred

#78

Post by ilaksh »

etaioinshrdlu wrote: post #15

These fines seem incredibly low to me - they're slaps on the wrist!

The CEO should go to prison. Obviously. This is what's wrong with our society -- too much upside to being dishonest, very little downside. People with integrity are practically punished for it.

Re: CFPB Takes Action Against Coding Boot Camp BloomTech and CEO Austen Allred

#80

Post by neilv »

imzadi wrote: post #66

I attended Lambda when it was first starting out. I think I was in the third or fourth cohort. At the time, the sell was that you didn't have to pay anything unless you got a job using the skills you learned from them. I was pretty naïve, I guess. Things seemed fine in the beginning. The instructors were good, and I liked that there were actual live classes. Things degraded very quickly. They kept changing the format…

Have you contacted the CFPB, to see whether they can help now (in light of this press release)?
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