An initial partnership to improve student access
One of Climb’s school partners — a technology-focused educational institution that teaches programs including cybersecurity, data analytics, product management, and coding — has graduated thousands of students since they first began delivering education in 2013. And in 2020, they began working with Climb Credit to offer a loan option for students to finance their tuition.
They were dedicated to ensuring that their learners had an opportunity to gain the education they needed, regardless of their economic circumstances. Through their partnership with Climb, they were able to offer multiple loan options with a diverse array of deferral periods and term lengths. This ultimately helped students find the right monthly payment amount for their circumstances, and helped to increase access to education for those who may not be able to pay in full.
74%
of students stated that they would not have been able to attend their education without financing.1
1Based on over 5,000 online survey responses from 2016-2022. The data points include Climb’s all-time survey respondents from Climb’s full partner network, with duplicate responders removed, who answered a question stating whether or not they would have been able to attend their program without Climb financing.
The presence of loan options is important, but the accessibility of those loan options — particularly approval rates of applicants — is what really makes the difference in students’ ability to enroll. Through implementing Climb’s loans which included high-approval rates, the same school was able to enroll more students.
of applications approved!2
2Based on a review of Climb loan applications from this coding bootcamp from May 2020 through May 2022
Ongoing support and consultation
Through the consultative process, Climb reviewed how students were using their financing products and learned more about the school’s enrollment process. Like many schools, this partner had developed an in-house payment plan offering. This was built to serve students who were not able to pay up-front, but who did not necessarily want or need to take out a loan.
While these payment plans had served their students well over the years, they were manual processes and thus very challenging to operate for the school’s internal team — so challenging, in fact, that the school was only able to manage about 20 of these payment plans a year. It was clear that their existing system did not allow them to offer these options to students at scale, and Climb offered a solution.
In 2021, Climb took their feedback, and offered to manage their payment plans through an Interest-Free Recurring Billing service. After evaluating the setup requirements, costs, and student experience, the school determined that using the payment plan option would be the right move both for their internal operations and for their students. Climb’s Interest Free Recurring Payments offer the school the ability to have one payment link that can generate a custom payment plan — for any tuition amount, length, or course that they offer.
After launching the new program through Climb, the school went from serving 20 students annually to 150 students in just 3 months — a projected 30X increase annually!3 In addition to the increased processing efficiency, the school was able to see cost savings as well.
3Based on self-reported payment plan processing numbers from the school, compared to Climb Interest-Free Recurring billing results in 2022.
Success and continued iteration
4Results from this Case Study may vary amongst other schools and their individualized payment plans/providers. To learn more about Climb, contact partnerships@climbcredit.com