Access Labs Promotes Economic Mobility for Low Income New Yorkers
Aspiring coders making under $35K annually can potentially double their income.
Aspiring coders making under $35K annually can potentially double their income.
Adam Enbar and Avi Flombaum founded Flatiron School in 2012 “to enable the pursuit of a better life through education.” Their accelerated coding bootcamp sparked the trend that is now the coding bootcamp industry. These programs enable beginner coders with diverse experiences and backgrounds to drastically alter the course of their lives in just a few months. By the time students complete the bootcamp, they’re full stack software engineers ready to compete in the job market. Many of these programs, including Flatiron, offer career services and job placement guarantees in some cases.
Sound too good to be true? It’s not, but the programs come at a serious cost. The average bootcamp costs $11,450, and some charge upwards of $20,000 for a few months of school. These are full-time, immersive educational programs. Therefore, students will also need to save enough money to cover living expenses during the bootcamp since they won’t have time for a job. This complicates things for people struggling to make a living as it is.
Enter WeWork, a co-working space company dedicated to creating “a world where people work to make a life, not just a living.” In 2017 WeWork acquired Flatiron School, and in 2018 the partnership begat Access Labs. Access Labs at WeWork DUMBO opens Flatiron School’s bootcamps to anyone making less than $35,000 per year by eliminating upfront tuition cost. The rigorous application process remains the same, as does the community-based, intensive coding bootcamp that will turn amateur codemonkeys into highly employable software engineers in just 15 weeks.
There is a minor catch, though. Although Access Labs waves tuition initially, the program still costs $15,000. Fortunately, students aren’t required to pay their tuition until they successfully land a job following Access Labs’ employment search guidelines. Even then, they can pay their tuition in installments equal to 10 percent of their monthly income until the tuition is paid off. If a student is unfortunate enough to search for six months and not find a job, Access Labs will waive their tuition completely. Essentially, graduates won’t be required to pay until they’re able to pay, and even then the payment plan is designed not to overwhelm grads financially.
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This is a truly amazing initiative happening right in Brooklyn. A quick Google search of “class mobility” reveals numerous studies and articles stating that socioeconomic mobility is declining or is not as easy as people think. It’s difficult to radically change the circumstances of your life. Access Labs makes such changes possible. Students will essentially more than double their income in just 15 weeks: they’ll go in making $35,000 or less, and graduates of the program make an average of $76,000 in their new jobs. The classes are fairly small, but Access has new classes starting at least once a month from now until August (the next one starts June 25).
Given that Flatiron School started the coding bootcamp trend, hopefully Access Labs will start another trend of enabling those with limited options the opportunity to change their lives for the better, even if it’s one person at a time.
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