Sallie Mae Finances Student Success

We built Turing’s model to be solely dependent on student tuition. We would never rely on fees from employers, outside funders, or government subsidies. We established a tuition price point that would allow the model to survive, then opened the doors.

Over the years tuition has changed once, from $17,500 to $20,000. During that time we’ve graduated hundreds of students. But only one-third of them pay the tuition up-front. In the early days, we offered our own deferment plan that allowed students to pay us back when they had their high-paying job. Once we had some track record, we were able to establish relationships with private lenders like Skills Fund and Climb.

Lending for tuition was a huge help for many students. But then the toughest burden became the cost-of-living. Over time both Skills Fund and Climb added the option to add funding for cost of living up to $10,500.

In the summer of 2016 we got approval from the Veterans Administration to accept GI Bill funding to cover the tuition and cost of living for veterans. As many as 20% of recent classes have been able to pay for Turing this way.

Today we get to announce the next chapter: Sallie Mae. Established by the US Government in 1973, today Sallie Mae is a public corporation that originates, services, and collects private student loans. They’re one of the best-known names in the student loan industry, and now they’re available to our students.

Why does it matter if there are already two other lenders? Sallie Mae has some big differentiators:

• They’ll lend the full $20,000 for tuition and an additional $14,000 for cost-of-living.
• Students can choose between two repayment plans. The easier plan allows students to pay just $25 per month while at Turing, then pay the loan back over at least five years after graduation.
• They are more risk tolerant and will take on individual lenders with credit scores as low as 640 (compared to high 600s of other lenders).
• If you need a cosigner, then make your payments on time for a year, they’ll release the cosigner (making it easier to get a cosigner).
• They have a six-month grace period after graduation before payments begin — time to find a job and get your first couple paychecks.

The difference between a minimum credit score of 640 and one of 700 is huge. My credit score is 700 primarily because of a late car payment three years ago. If you have a few blips on your record or have used a large portion of your available credit card debt, then it’s very easy to land in the 640–680 range.

We’re in the business of career development. Many people who want to reboot their careers are going to have some speed bumps in their credit history. They’re not likely to have big piles of savings. By being flexible on credit scores, and financing both the tuition and a realistic cost-of-living allowance, Sallie Mae is amplifying our ability to recruit a diverse population.

Ready to dive in? You can compare financing options on our website or jump in and apply now.

I’m Jeff Casimir, the Executive Director of the Turing School of Software & Design. I’m proud that our alumni say Turing was an amazing investment — basically like Bitcoin without the weirdos and ambiguous tax implications.