Coding schools partner non-profit HOPE on $100m scholarship fund
Coding schools, The Iron Yard, and Code Fellows have partnered with non-profit Operation HOPE to establish a $100m scholarship fund for diverse students. The fund will help minority and low-income students to engage in technological fields through coding instruction and professional opportunities upon completion. The public-private endeavour will feature interaction from federal agencies and corporate partners to aid with financial literacy training and mentoring facilities.

Dive Brief:

Two coding schools, The Iron Yard and Code Fellows, have partnered with nonprofit financial literacy organization Operation HOPE to create a $100 million scholarship fund to spur minority and low-income student engagement in tech fields.

The partnership will give qualified students access to coding instruction, and will connect graduates with professional opportunities in government and private industry upon completion.

Participating federal agencies and corporate partners will also provide financial literacy training and transitional mentoring into careers.

Dive Insight:

This program is a significant step in the direction of public-private partnership in the name of equaling the workforce development playing field. And it is the latest in several initiatives where the federal government is engaged with non-traditional learning institutions to solve the problem of college affordability and post-graduate career outcomes.

As many universities are being queried by the federal government on how they spend their endowment money, and enrollment decreases among all institutions nationally, traditional campuses will need to look at these partnerships as a sign of where education is likely going in the future, and what the federal government may be willing to finance with its student loan programs going ahead.