Alternative Financing for Continuing Education Programs
Meet Climb
Climb is a mission-driven startup working to help schools increase enrollment, access, and affordability by providing alternative financing for career and professional education programs without federal financial aid.
Climb offers financing to people with various credit profiles, to help those who may not otherwise be able to afford tuition.
Students are central to our mission — we bridge the gap between the desire to continue education and the ability to pay for it. And unlike some private loan providers, Climb makes sure people only take out loans that they’ll be able to pay back.
After all, one of the biggest barriers to education is not being able to afford it.
68% of people either delay or entirely forego attending a program without financing options.1
"[When deciding to go back to school], it would have probably been a huge deterrent if I wasn't able to get the financing from Climb ... and Climb does a really good job of informing you and being very transparent. The documentation is extremely easy to read, the online Portal is simple to use, and it gives me a good idea of where I'm at, how much I owe, what the payment is going to be, so it's probably one of the easiest payments to keep track of out of anything else I have on my plate."
–Luis Rocha, Climb partner school graduate
How we help schools
Climb is the only new marketing strategy that’s both effective and free. Because we work with skill-based programs, prospective students can see you’re a Climb partner and feel confident that you provide career-focused education.
And, since we can offer financing to people various credit profiles, helping those who may not otherwise be able to afford tuition, our partner schools can increase their enrollment and cashflow without spending any money!
Increased enrollments
Legally compliant
Rest easy — loans are well understood, and Climb is licensed and fully compliant
Affordability-focused
Shared data and outcomes
"I chose Galvanize partially because you guys were choosy lenders, and one of the places you chose to lend for was Galvanize."
–David Sudia, Climb partner school graduate
How we help students
Our mission is to help people reach their goals in a financially responsible way. That’s why we’re proud to partner with over 500 schools across the US2 to offer accessible payment options to attend their programs! And with our easy application, financial resources, and friendly and knowledgeable Student Support Team, we make sure applicants are equipped with everything they need to make an informed decision about their education and financing.
“The best thing about Climb has been not worrying about paying for school since day one. Changing or launching your career is daunting enough, and the cost of tuition ... can be very overwhelming. I’m glad I made the leap, however, because paying for school has been the easiest part of the process.”
–Joshua Jaffe, Climb partner school graduate
How Climb financing works
We make it easy to apply for financing to attend your programs — in fact, Climb partners have the option to integrate our application directly into their own online application! Other benefits of a Climb application include:
- A simple, online application that takes less than five minutes
- Instant decisions a majority of the time
- Tuition funds sent directly to the school
- No hard credit pull until a loan is funded, so students can submit multiple applications with no impact to their credit score3
- Servicing handled by Climb
- Email and text reminders sent to students to keep them on track with payments
- Can work with students who need help making their monthly payments
Once you’re a Climb partner, you’ll be paired with a partner advocate who’ll help you navigate and be there throughout the partnership to answer any questions you may have. You’ll also have access to our easy-to-use school dashboard, where you can stay up-to-date on loan applications, request necessary updates for individual applications, and channels to reach out to our team.
“I was very new to this type of lending process, so it was really nice to have this go smoothly when I was already making this huge life decision and these really big commitments."
–Christy La Guardia, Climb partner school graduate
Interested in becoming a Climb partner?
Reach out to our team for more details about how we can benefit you and your students with our financing options:
1 – Based on a 2018 survey of Climb website visitors
2 – Number of active Climb partners as of March 26, 2025
3 – To check the rates and terms applicants qualify for and their eligibility, Climb conducts a soft credit pull that will not affect their credit score. Once a loan is accepted and funded, we will request their full credit report from one or more consumer reporting agencies, which is considered a hard credit pull and may affect credit.
*Loans are originated by Climb Investco, LLC. Schools do not endorse loans originated by Climb InvestCo, LLC, and Climb InvestCo, LLC is not affiliated with any school.
*Licensing: California Finance Lender #60DBO-44527. NMLS Consumer Access (NMLS# 1240013).
*This communication is not intended for students.