This set-up allowed Make School students to access federal aid dollars.Ĭolleges that receive federal funding must uphold certain standards of “program integrity,” including accurate representations of the nature of their educational programs, financial charges and graduates’ employability. The partnership was approved by Dominican’s accreditor, Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission, or WSCUC, through a special set-up that allowed Dominican to essentially sponsor Make School and help it be fast-tracked toward independent accreditation. A spokesperson from Dominican said that, when they signed the contract, college leaders were unaware that Make School was operating as an unapproved educational institution. Nevertheless, later that year, it joined forces with Dominican, a nonprofit college in San Rafael, California. It received a citation in 2018 from California’s Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education for operating without approval. “The students will take on the debt because they trust the school, then go to a program that is usually very superficial.”Īfter starting in 2012 and pivoting from gaming to education in 2014, Make School operated for years as an unlicensed educational institution. “What you have is trusted brand-name schools, from community colleges to state universities, knowing that they have these valuable brands, and literally renting them out to for-profit companies,” said Ben Kaufman, director of research and investigations at the Student Borrower Protection Center. The colleges can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars without having to do much work, according to reviews of the contracts obtained through public records requests. The programs grow but remain unregulated while bearing the crests of the accredited and respected colleges and universities. No one collects any information on how many former boot camp students end up with the jobs they trained for or whether the many students who take out private loans to pay for these programs are able to make their payments.įor the colleges and the boot camp providers, however, partnering is a win-win. This kind of program, which typically takes two years or less to complete and does not offer academic credit, is unregulated and is often marketed as an alternative to traditional colleges and an accelerated pathway to high-paying tech jobs. When students enroll in a tech boot camp, however - even if it has the name of a college pasted all over it - they have none of those assurances. There is quality oversight and transparency about student outcomes. If their education doesn’t meet those standards, or if their school lies to them or closes, they are entitled to certain protections, including, in some cases, debt cancelation. When students enroll in a traditional college, they know they are attending an institution that has met certain standards set by the federal and state governments and accrediting agencies. At least 75 such partnerships exist between colleges and three of the country’s top boot camp provider companies: edX, ThriveDX and Fullstack Academy. Such arrangements are quietly proliferating with few, if any, quality controls or assurances in place to protect students. When colleges and boot camps team up, the colleges typically just put their name on the programs while the boot camp companies recruit students, develop curricula and teach classes. Make School’s disastrous downfall, as documented by a Student Borrower Protection Center report provided to The Hechinger Report, should sound alarm bells about partnerships like this, advocates for students warn. “We would have been very grateful for not having to pioneer quite so much.” “What you have is trusted brand-name schools, from community colleges to state universities, knowing that they have these valuable brands, and literally renting them out to for-profit companies.” Ben Kaufman, director of research and investigations at the Student Borrower Protection Center “There’s not yet a regulatory framework that provides clear guidance and boundaries for institutions trying to do this,” Pitchford said. Nicola Pitchford, Dominican’s vice president for academic affairs at the time and now its president, said the university did everything they could to help the students, but acknowledged it was “a really lumpy ride.” The majority left the program without any credential to show for their time and effort.
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When Make School suddenly closed in 2021, Dominican leaders were in uncharted territory, left to figure out how to help 167 students continue their education, a spokesperson said. No one was watching out for warning signs, financial or otherwise, of issues at Make School. Though it had special approval from Dominican’s accreditor, Make School’s program received little oversight or regulation.
The partnership, established in 2018, would be the first of its kind.
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