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Comment by austenallred | Hacker News Reader

We get students’ tax returns to verify income and they sign a contract. What’s stopping them from not paying is the American contract law system which is severely underrated.

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I suppose the contract obliges them to look for / accept a job after graduating? I mean, I'd be happy to take money to study for a while, but I wouldn't look for a job afterwards.

Looking for a job is built into the curriculum itself. Of course, you could just turn job offers down and never get paid a high salary, but most people aren’t optimizing like that.

Interesting, is the job market in the US so good that even new graduates without work experience can expect to find well-paying jobs? I'm in Australia, where things seem a bit different.

The good ones can with a lot of help. Weak ones or those that don’t know how to navigate a job search well struggle.

Our first cohort, for example, hit 100% employment.

All +$50k?

I’d have to look but I believe so yes

In software development and other IT fields, yes. In many other fields, not so much.

Yes.

In major tech cities (NYC, Seattle, Silicon Valley) the starting salaries are over $100,000, plus $20-40,000 in Restricted Stock Units, and $20-40,000 in yearly bonus.

Importantly, RSUs from public companies are directly convertible to cash once they vest (usually 12 months). Startup options lottery tickets are a different story.

See http://comp.fyi

I hate to break it to you, but I don't think many people can afford to live without a paying job, and if they can, I doubt they're willing to exchange their time for $2k a month.

I don't think people not looking for a job is a problem you need to heavily consider. Especially if there's a selection process for admission -- which the founder says there is.

I suppose you can optimise by only taking candidates who can't survive without a job. There are certainly people who can, e.g., people who have partners with well-paying jobs, people from wealthy families, or people with investments. Some of them may still find an extra 2k/month attractive.

Edit: I my case, I'd find an extra 2k/month attractive, and there are always new things to learn about software.

We also have a part-time program that's for people who need to keep their 9-5 job while going to school.

I cannot speak for Allred or Lambda School, but I suspect they, like all people and institutions, cannot solve all conceivable problems for everyone, anywhere, in every circumstance. But they are working to expand the range of possibilities and open up frontiers that were closed just a few years ago.

Is there any concern about them sending fake tax returns?

The IRS copies us on their returns. So, no.

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