Dive Brief:

• Clint Schmidt, COO of Bloc, questions partnerships between coding bootcamps and accredited institutions as a “dangerous backdoor to access federal student loans.”
• In an article for LinkedIn, Bloc argues that funding opportunity would give bootcamps a chance to go after easy money, focusing less on student outcomes, like some for-profit colleges have been accused of doing.
• He suggests one accountability measure — asking a board of experienced developers to review portfolios of bootcamp graduates and ensure they actually got the job-ready skills they meant to pay for.

Dive Insight:

Lynn University just announced its one-semester “study abroad” opportunity for students interested in getting course credit for attending an immersive coding bootcamp. The university will give a full semester of credit for the courses and internships offered by General Assembly. The U.S. Department of Education is also expected to approve a group of partnerships like this through its experimental sites program.

Schmidt is not the first to raise red flags about how access to federal funding could corrupt the sector. The Century Foundation issued a similar caution last month, also referred back to lessons from for-profits.