People hoping to attend a code school are at a distinct disadvantage compared to those attending a community college or other accredited university: They can’t get scholarships, loans or other money through government programs since the schools usually aren’t accredited.
But now, there is more money than ever available to attend a code school in Nebraska. Both Interface Web School and Omaha Code School begin their second round of students this fall.
Agape Red recently gave each of the six female Omaha Code School students $1,000 scholarships. Pair that with the $1,750 scholarships for females from GitHub and that leaves $4,750 remaining in tuition.
“Agape Red does not just need more developers, we need to change and grow to meet our future challenges and opportunities,” Dave Kerber of Agape Red wrote on the company’s blog. “The diversity in our team needs to improve. Our Co-founder/CFO and our Sales/Marketing Manager are women, but none of our developers are. We have regularly sought to improve this, but we can and will do better.
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“That is why we are providing a $1,000 scholarship to every woman accepted to this Omaha Code School class… We hope that by assisting to increase the diversity of the Omaha developer community, some talented women will find their way to our team and make Agape Red an even better place for our employees and clients.”
Applications for the First National Bank of Omaha scholarships to the Interface Web School also will be open on Interface’s website on Aug. 1.
Meanwhile, Shonna Dorsey, managing director of Interface Web School, is creating a Kickstarter-like site specifically for people looking to develop web and coding skills. She plans to launch the fund Oct. 1.
Dorsey is developing the site as part of a 10-week web developer training course—yes, she’s a student in her own web school. The assignment was to create a web application to meet a community or social cause students are passionate about.
The Midwest Tech Education Fund will provide an alternative financing option for students seeking assistance with covering tuition at participating Midwest-based programs established to teach people about the web or to create applications for the web, such as Interface Web School, Bella Minds, Omaha Code School and Iowa Tech Chicks, Dorsey said in a blog.
Additionally, students requesting support via the Midwest Tech Education Fund must be planning to seek a tech role in the Midwest upon graduation.
Dorsey hopes to increase the visibility of alternative tech training programs while minimizing the financial barriers.In order for an individual to qualify to submit a request for funds through this program, he/she must have already been accepted into a participating program.
Funds raised will go directly to the participating school on an individual’s behalf to offset the cost of their tuition. Should a student decide not to pursue training through the selected school after funds are submitted on their behalf, funds will stay with the school and be reallocated to a general scholarship fund, she said.
