The cost of college tuition is rising. As is the amount of student loan debt, which according to newly released figures is now more than $1.4 trillion dollars nationwide.
But local non-profit San Diego Workforce Partnership has teamed up with UC San Diego’s Extension Campus to offer an alternative to pay for college courses called Income Share Agreements.
Under income share agreements, students borrow directly from the college for specific programs. They are not required to pay that money back until after they complete the course, and after they begin making over $40,000 a year. Once they make that students are required to pay six percent of their earnings back to the program for three years. The income share agreement is offered for four courses, website design, computer programming, JavaScript, and digital marketing.
“When we think about the typical college experience and paying for higher education it's really a pay and pray mode where I’m going to pay my money and hope that everything works out” said Josh Shapiro, UCSD Extension’s assistant dean of research affairs.
Shapiro and his partners at the San Diego Workforce Partnership hope the project will help address that worry.
“We are betting on your future, not your past credit score,” said Andy Hall, the partnership’s Chief Operating Officer. “Why wouldn’t the cost of that education be connected with the value that someone gets in the labor market after they graduate?”
Shapiro and Hall hope that the program will attract students from more diverse, underrepresented communities and introduce them to the growing tech field.
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“These are programs where someone can go from no or little experience to very quickly getting an entry level position that pays over $40,000 a year,” added Hall.
The four tech courses eligible for the income share agreement typically average around $9,500 in tuition. After completion, and after finding a job that earns upward of $40,000 a year, students can pay up to $12,000.
Shapiro and Hall say that is less than what most students pay in the traditional student loan setup and allows new students the same opportunity.
For more information or to apply, click here.
