In an effort to lower the barrier of entry into its online coding boot camps, Thinkful is bringing a living stipend program to Minneapolis.
The living stipend provides Thinkful students with a $1,500 monthly stipend to help cover living expenses like rent and groceries, allowing them to focus further on the coding program.
Thinkful launched the stipend program 10 months ago in Salt Lake City and announced Wednesday that it will be coming to Denver, Atlanta and Minneapolis.
The living stipend is available to students who enroll in Thinkful’s five-month engineering plan. In the Salt Lake City pilot, 200 students applied for two open stipend spots, the company wrote in a blog post on its website.
Thinkful offers a variety of online courses, including classes in product design, data analytics, data science and full-stack engineering. In addition to online courses, Thinkful offers 1-on-1 mentoring for each student with an industry expert.
Thinkful’s Living Stipend also requires no up-front tuition payment. Instead, students pay a percentage of their post-graduation income — 15 percent over four years. The payment period starts as soon as graduates start earning $40,000 or more and is capped at $40,000.
Thinkful entered the Twin Cities about eight months ago. It currently has 22 active students in the area and six graduates with a median salary of $75,000.
The company, founded in 2012, raised a $9.6 million Series A in January 2018 and acquired competitor Bloc later that spring. To date, Thinkful has raised $16 million.
