It’s widely acknowledged that leading coding bootcamps prioritize accessible payment plans. However, when students attend in-person programs in high-cost areas like San Francisco, financial challenges persist. To address this, certain bootcamps provide living stipends or even accommodations.
A coding bootcamp that offers a living stipend empowers students to dedicate themselves fully to their studies, improving learning outcomes and job search success. In this article, you’ll learn about the top coding bootcamps that offer tech stipends, free housing, or both. We also show what living expenses you’ll have during bootcamp and give you alternatives in case you don’t qualify for a learning stipend.
Key Takeaways
- Coding bootcamps with living stipends provide financial support to cover living expenses during the program, allowing students to focus fully on their studies.
- Several coding bootcamps offer free or subsidized housing in addition to living stipends, alleviating the burden of accommodation costs.
- Bootcamps like 42, Big Nerd Ranch, Devmountain, and Fullstack Academy provide living stipends or free housing.
- Alternatives to coding bootcamps with living stipends include scholarships, deferred tuition programs, coliving solutions, cost of living loans, and utilizing GI Bill benefits or government stipends.
Top Coding Bootcamps With Living Stipends or Free Housing
A considerable amount of bootcamps offer living stipends or free housing to students in need of some financial support. These are great options for students looking to minimize the financial burden of their programs. A tech stipend can also make it possible for you to quit your job so that you can devote all your energy to your studies. Below we take a close look at the best coding bootcamps with living stipends or free housing.
42
- Type of Assistance: Free housing
- Eligibility Requirements: Students must be 18 years old or over to get into this free program
This free tech school has multiple campuses around the world. Students benefit from a project-based curriculum that prioritizes interactive learning. 42 has a private platform available for students looking to find accommodation. Some of its students are able to room for free but this is not always the case. Whether you are eligible for free housing will be determined by your individual circumstances and the campus you select.
Big Nerd Ranch
- Type of Assistance: Free housing
- Eligibility Requirements: There are no placement tests or interviews but some of the courses require some coding experience
Big Nerd Ranch is one of the main tech schools with housing available for students. This bootcamp includes the price of meals, transportation, and a hotel room in many of its in-person bootcamp programs. In general, these are short courses that cover skills in UX/UI design and web, Android, and iOS development.
Devmountain
- Type of Assistance: Free housing
- Eligibility Requirements: You must be enrolled in a full-time, in-person program. Availability is limited
Devmountain is one of the few coding bootcamps with housing included at no extra cost for in-person, full-time learners. It offers full-time web development bootcamps in Houston, Lehi, and numerous other US cities. Students who wish to take advantage of this free accommodation must request housing during the application process. Places are limited, so students are advised to apply early.
Fullstack Academy
- Type of assistance: Living stipend
- Eligibility requirements: Requirements vary depending on the program or scholarship
Fullstack Academy provides financial support to students in a number of ways. For example, several scholarships are available for those interested in the Grace Hopper Program. There is also Future Code, a 31-week immersive program in New York. Students selected for this program don’t have to pay for their training and receive a weekly training stipend to cover living costs.
Hacker Paradise
- Type of Assistance: Free housing
- Eligibility Requirements: You must enroll in one of the school’s bootcamp programs
Hacker Paradise organizes various coding bootcamps in destinations worldwide. Global students come together to learn and collaborate. Housing is included as part of tuition. Students will have a private room and access to a co-working space with modern facilities and resources.
Hack Reactor
- Type of assistance: Living stipend
- Eligibility requirements: Awarded only to students belonging to underrepresented communities in tech
Hack Reactor is one of the best-known coding bootcamps, having graduated over 12,000 alumni since its inception in 2012. This school offers several types of scholarships. One of them, offered in partnership with Optimizely, is the I/Own Scholarship and Internship program. It covers the full cost of tuition and also awards a $1,500 tech stipend to cover living costs.
iXperience
- Type of Assistance: Free housing
- Eligibility Requirements: You must pass an entrance interview
iX Summer Abroad offers students a unique six-week bootcamp experience. Learning is career-focused and includes a hands-on internship. Students from the US can attend campuses in Portugal or South Africa. Accommodation is a shared space, with two to five students per room, and is included in the cost of tuition.
Recurse Center
- Type of Assistance: Need-based living expense grant
- Eligibility Requirements: Grants are available to people who identify as women (cis or trans), trans, genderqueer, non-binary, Black, Latinx, Native American, or Pacific Islander.
Recurse Center offers educational retreats that allow students to work together and independently on challenging projects to become better programmers. Students from traditionally underrepresented communities in tech have access to living expense grants of up to $7,000.
Institute of Code
- Type of assistance: Housing and food included in tuition
- Eligibility requirements: There are no requirements per se but the school only takes 16 students per bootcamp so make sure to apply early
This school offers courses on web development as well as social media and photography. The web development bootcamp will equip you with in-demand digital skills to make a living remotely. Although the school does not have a training stipend per se, it includes housing, meals, and even yoga sessions in the price of tuition for any of its 10-day Bali bootcamps.
Thinkful
- Type of Assistance: Deferred tuition with a living stipend
- Eligibility Requirements: You must be enrolled full-time, be at least 18 years old, be a US citizen or green card holder, and pass a background check
Full-time students can attend a Thinkful program without any upfront costs. Furthermore, through Ascent Funding, students will receive a living stipend of $1,500 per month. However, while tuition does not have to be repaid if you don’t find employment within six months, living stipend repayments start once you graduate, irrespective of whether you find work or not.
What Is a Coding Bootcamp With Living Stipend?
When a coding bootcamp offers a living stipend it awards a fixed amount of money to the student on a weekly or monthly basis. Essentially, the coding bootcamp pays you to help you cover the living expenses you incur during the program. This money allows you to focus fully on your studies.
In the context of a coding bootcamp, living stipends are usually given out as part of a scholarship, as in the case of Hack Reactor’s I/Own Scholarship. They are also awarded as a result of enrollment in a particular program, such as the Future Code program run by Fullstack Academy. The average coding bootcamp stipend is around $1,500 per month.
In the list above, we also included coding bootcamps with free or subsidized housing because housing is the biggest expense that coding bootcamp living stipends seek to cover. It is worth noting that living stipends are becoming less common as a growing number of bootcamps move fully online.
What Will Be My Living Expenses During Bootcamp?
The number one factor that will influence your living expenses during your program is whether your bootcamp is in-person or online. Naturally, if your program is remote, your living expenses won’t change much. Rather, it will be on-campus students who see a major change in their expenses.
Students who attend bootcamps in person will have to commute to the school every day. These students will have to factor in the cost of gas or public transportation, as well as snacks if the commute is considerably long.
Additionally, if you don’t live in a major city, there may not be any bootcamps near you. If this is the case, you will either have to relocate or face extremely long commutes. Students who choose to move closer to the coding school will have to add the cost of renting the new property to their living expenses.
What If You Don’t Qualify for a Coding Bootcamp With Living Stipend?
If you can’t find a coding bootcamp that pays you a stipend or that provides free or subsidized housing, there are plenty of other options at your disposal. There are many ways to pay for coding bootcamp, so there is almost always a way to finance your program. Below, we explore other alternatives if a coding bootcamp stipend is not an option.
Apply for a Scholarship
If you can’t find coding bootcamp with living stipend programs that work for you, finding a coding bootcamp with scholarships is the next best thing. While you aren’t technically getting paid, your education is being funded. There are plenty of scholarships available to fund your education and assist with your living expenses.
There are a variety of scholarships available at top bootcamps. Some coding bootcamps, like App Academy, offer rotating scholarships. These different scholarships may not cover the entire cost of your tuition, but the cost of your program will go down significantly. You may also be able to combine these scholarships with a training stipend to potentially cover the entire cost of attending the program.
Enter a Deferred Tuition Program
Deferred tuition programs allow you to delay payments for your program until you graduate and start working in your new field. This is a rapidly growing way to finance education, particularly in the bootcamp sector. The great thing about it is that, in many cases, if the student fails to get a job or gets a job that pays below a certain threshold, they are not required to repay the school.
Related to deferred tuition is an income share agreement (ISA). Deferred tuition and income share agreements function in much the same way. The major difference is that, with an ISA, the student pays back a percentage of their salary after graduation, instead of a fixed amount, as it’s the case with regular deferred tuition.
Look for Coliving Solutions
Coliving solutions are very popular among bootcamp students because they are inexpensive and can help you meet similar-minded people. Some bootcamps, like App Academy, General Assembly, and Metis have historically worked with companies like Common for coliving discounts for students.
Another company that typically teams up with bootcamp to offer coliving spaces is Krash. This company is popular with coders as well as entrepreneurs, designers, and marketers. Krash is active in a few major cities and Launch Academy recommends it to its students.
Consider Cost of Living Loans for Students
Another viable alternative to tech stipends are cost-of-living loans. If you take out a coding bootcamp loan, you might have the option to borrow additional money for things like transportation, rent, and food. You will then pay this money back in addition to your tuition after you graduate and enter the workforce.
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Coding bootcamp loans are a popular way to pay for your program. In the bootcamp world, the top lenders are Ascent, Climb Credit, and Upstart. Before taking out a loan, make sure to check if your bootcamp has partnerships with any company. Taking out a loan with a lender that partners with your school will make the whole process much smoother.
Use Your GI Bill Benefits
If you are a veteran, you can use the GI Bill housing allowance to cover living expenses for some bootcamp programs. Whether or not you can use GI Bill Benefits for a coding bootcamp depends on the school. There are many coding bootcamp that accept the GI Bill, some of the most prominent being Code Platoon, Galvanize, and General Assembly.
If you’ve run out of GI Bill benefits or don’t qualify at all, there are other options as a veteran. Many schools have special tuition discounts or scholarships targeting people who have served in the military. Coding Dojo, BrainStation, and Springboard are just a few examples.
Can You Use Government Stipends Toward Your Bootcamp?
There are some government stipends or grants that can be applied toward a coding bootcamp education. For example, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) can be used to finance a coding bootcamp, although not all bootcamps qualify so make sure to contact the program administrator.
There is also the Educational Quality through Innovative Partnerships (EQUIP). This pilot program could be used to pay for bootcamp. Unfortunately, it was discontinued in 2020. However, some of the programs that were established through EQUIP may continue to exist so make sure to check this avenue as well. The CARES act or even programs run by your city or state can also offer assistance toward paying for a bootcamp.
Should You Attend a Coding Bootcamp With Living Stipend?
A coding bootcamp is always a great option to get the education you need for a tech career. Coding bootcamps are short and intensive programs that will equip you with the skills that employers are currently demanding. If you can find a coding bootcamp that pays you a stipend, then the decision to attend one of these programs is truly an easy one.
As we have shown you in this article, there is a handful of coding bootcamps that offer a living stipend to help you cover living expenses during your program. In addition, there are also several bootcamps where housing is free or subsidized. Whichever one you choose, you will be trained on the latest technologies and most in-demand skills and will be ready to apply to high-paying jobs as soon as you graduate.
Coding Bootcamp With Living Stipend FAQs
Established coding bootcamp like BloomTech and Flatiron School tend to offer a variety of payment options. You can often pay for a bootcamp using income share agreements (ISA), loans, deferred tuition plans, or scholarships. Each bootcamp offers different payment options, so be sure to check with the admissions department before enrolling. You may even find some programs, like the Grace Hopper Program, that work with multiple bootcamps.
What is a learning stipend?
A learning stipend, in the context of coding bootcamps, refers to financial support provided to students for their living expenses during the duration of the program. It enables learners to focus on intensive coding education without worrying about financial constraints, fostering an immersive and dedicated learning experience.
Are there coding schools that pay you to attend?
Yes, there are some schools that, in a way, pay you to attend. This is usually done via living stipends, also known as learning stipends, which are meant to cover a student’s living costs. For example, students interested in attending Thinkful can request a living stipend from Ascent Funding for $1,500.
Will my employer pay for a coding bootcamp?
Some employers will assist in paying bootcamp tuition or even cover the entire cost for their employees. This is especially true if the curriculum includes necessary technical training for the job. If your employer will not assist in funding your education, you can always look for a coding bootcamp with living stipend programs.
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