Ada Developers Academy Student Loan Program

Ada Developers Academy and Community Credit Lab are thrilled to announce our partnership focused on increasing equity in tech. Together we have built a program that will provide community-funded, 0% interest loans to students going through the Ada program. Ada is a year-long, immersive software development training program that prepares gender minorities to successfully enter software development careers. The first six months of the program include classroom training that is focused on the following three areas:

This stage of the program is so intense and immersive that students are not able to hold other jobs while they work through the curriculum at Ada. So, while Ada is 100% tuition-free (with no income sharing agreements on the backend either), students coming from low-income backgrounds need financial support to care for their basic needs and their families.

The second half of the program is an internship experience at a technology company where students gain hands-on experience writing and deploying code, while learning new languages and software development skills. During this portion of the program students earn a stipend that covers their living expenses.

Upon graduating, Adies very quickly jump into software development careers, and report pretty remarkable outcomes:

All time outcomes for Ada Developers Academy graduates (since founding in 2013)

With their new $117,000 (average) salaries Adies jump right back into the Ada community and are actively engaged in ensuring those who come after them are just as successful. Currently, Adies comprise 50% of all of Ada's philanthropic revenue, and more than 50% of Ada's volunteers, making an investment in one Ada student is an investment that ripples over many years and subsequent students.

Over the past five years, Ada has been running an interest bearing student loan program through another organization, and that program has seen incredible success with just 3 defaults over the life of the program (118 loans made for a total of $1.5m). Supporting this move to a 0% loan offering for Ada students means these impactful, diverse software developers will be able to more quickly repay their loans and reinvest in our community.

At Ada, we couldn't be more excited to collaborate on this opportunity for our broader community, because we know how much all of us benefit from a more inclusive tech sector, and, as a result, a more resilient economy.

- Lauren Sato, CEO, Ada Developers Academy