Catalyst ISL: Learn Now, Pay Back After You’re Hired

Take a full-time GA course at little upfront cost. With the Catalyst ISL Program made available through Stride Funding¹, pay back your tuition in manageable, income-based monthly installments – only once you’ve landed a job making $40,000 or more.²

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How the Catalyst ISL Program Works

Got your eyes set on a future in full-stack development, user experience design, or data science? Our Catalyst program can get you in class and on the road to your career goals—without emptying your savings account before you’re hired.

Focus on Class, Not Costs

Catalyst allows students to learn new skills and land a job first and foremost. Repayment begins only once you secure a role earning at least $40,000 per year.²

Manageable Increments

After you’ve reached the minimum income threshold, you’ll start paying back 1.6%–10% percent of your monthly earned income over 48 months.²

Tuition Payment Cap

While some similar programs cap payments at 2x the cost of tuition, or don’t offer a maximum at all, Catalyst caps total payment at 1.5x tuition.

Bank on Yourself

Our support team + your career ambition = great success. Have confidence in your ability to graduate and break into a new in-demand field.

Let’s Talk

Our team is available to answer your questions about how the Catalyst ISL program can help launch your new career.

How Do GA’s Financing Options Compare?

We offer a variety of programs that work for different learning paths, student preferences, and financial needs. Learn about our other payment and financing options to find the right one for you.

	Available for Full-time Courses?	Available for Part-time Courses?	Out-of-Pocket Costs
Catalyst ISL Program (only available in the U.S.)	✔	X	Program deposit: $250 Program deposit: $250. Remaining balance paid as 1.6-10% of income after you leave the program and secure employment earning over $3.333.33/month.² (Full-tuition Catalyst Program funding available for students who receive a deposit exception.)
0% Monthly (Only available in U.S.)	X	✔ (excludes SEIR Flex)	Program deposit: $250 Remaining balance paid in monthly payments of $206 over 18 months.
Employer Pay	✔	✔	No upfront cost.
Full Tuition (With Pay Upfront Discount) (Only available in select U.S. markets)	✔	✔	Full-time programs: Receive $450 off gross tuition. Part-time programs: Receive $250 off gross tuition.
Installment Plan	✔	✔	Program deposit: $250 Remaining tuition fee due before the end of the program.
Loans (Not offered in SIA and LDN)	✔	✔ (Only in U.S. and AUS)	Program deposit: $250 Remaining balance paid in monthly installments after grace period expires. *Full-tuition loan funding available for students who receive a deposit exception approval.
GI Bill ^Ⓡ (Only available in U.S.)	✔	X	No upfront cost.
Skills Checkpoint Program (Only available in Australia)	✔	✔	*Co-contribution:** Up to $2,200 AUD Remaining tuition balance. *From either the student or their employer; must be equal to the amount paid by Verto.
Break the Glass Tuition Discount	✔ (SEI, SEIR, and DSI only)	X	$1,500 off gross tuition.
Social Impact	✔	X	No upfront cost.

* Note: Catalyst is only available in select U.S. markets. Our Admissions team is always available for financing guidance and assistance — feel free to get in touch at +1 (917) 722-0237.

Kickstart Your New Career Today

Apply for your course, and ask your Admissions representative about participating in our Catalyst program.

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User Experience Design

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Software Engineering

Start your full-stack software development career. Hone programming skills with JavaScript, Python, APIs, and more.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Catalyst ISL program?

The Catalyst ISL Program made available through Stride Funding allows eligible students to apply for an Income Share Loan (ISL), a contract in which a student receives educational funding in exchange for an agreed-upon percentage of their future income over a defined period of time.

If approved, you will receive upfront funding to complete our User Experience Design Immersive (UXDI), Software Engineering Immersive (SEI), or Data Science Immersive (DSI). After you leave the program and land a job earning at least $40,000 annually, you’ll start paying back 1.6-10% of your income over 48 months. You will stop paying when you’ve made 48 monthly payments or reached the 1.5 maximum payment cap—whichever comes first.

What benefits does this program offer for students?

The Catalyst ISL Program provides a different way to pay for our full-time programs (UXDI, SEI, and DSI). Because payment is based on a percentage of your future income, you’ll pay less when you earn less. And if you don’t secure employment earning at least $40,000 per year, you won’t be required to pay anything at all.

The percentage of your income that you will pay is fixed and will stay the same for the duration of your contract, but monthly payments may go up or down depending on your salary. If you earn a high income, a total payment cap will limit how much you are required to pay. No participant will ever pay more than 1.5x the cost of tuition.

Who is eligible to apply for Catalyst?

The Catalyst ISL Program is available to:

Incoming Software Engineering Immersive, User Experience Design Immersive, and Data Science Immersive students—in select US markets. (Please contact your admissions advisor or email admissions@generalassemb.ly for more information.)
Students with U.S. citizenship or permanent residency*.
Students 18 or older at the time of contract execution.
Any student who can produce a 2-year Employment Authorization Document.

Once students are deemed eligible, they must complete a credit application and the following additional application steps in order to be approved:

Complete UXDI, SEI, or DSI pre-work.
Complete the Outcomes pre-work.
Take and pass a skills assessment.

* Only available in select U.S. markets.

What is the application and approval process?

Our Admissions team will provide application links for our different financing options after you have been accepted into your program of choice. The ISL application is a simple online form that takes 5-10 minutes to complete and involves hard credit pull. You should have the following information available in order to finish your application as quickly as possible:

The program to which you have been accepted.
Your financial need (the tuition amount you’ll request).
Two references/communication contacts.

After you submit an application, you will be invited to complete GA's internal application process. Students must complete course pre-work, pass the assessment, and complete Outcomes pre-work in order to be certified. Once GA certifies a student, you will be sent a final disclosure with the specific terms of your ISL. This entire process from start to finish takes at least two weeks.

When do participants start making payments?

After the course, graduates have a payment-free grace period.

If students don’t secure employment earning $3,333.33/month (which annualizes to $40,000 per year) before their grace period expires, they must reach out to our third-party financing partner, Stride Funding, to request deferment. Payments will begin once once you are earning at least $40,000 per year or $3,333.33/month. This threshold to begin payback applies to all jobs—full-time and part-time, regardless of the field.

When does the ISL end?

The Income Share Loan will end when one of the following occurs — whichever comes first:
1. You make 48 payments.
2. Your cumulative payments reach the payment cap.
3. The maximum time frame for your loan — the payment window — expires.

¹Loans may be issued by Stride Funding, Inc or FinWise Bank, a Utah-chartered bank, Member FDIC. All loans are subject to individual approval and adherence to underwriting guidelines. Program restrictions, other terms, and conditions apply.

²The effective Income Share Percentage (“ISP”) on your Income Share Loan (“ISL”) is a fixed percentage of your monthly gross-income and will range between 1.60% and 10.00%, for a period of 48 months after the beginning of your payment term. Monthly payments are required and will vary greatly in amount because they depend on your specific ISP and your reported monthly gross-income. Monthly repayment amount is based on your designated ISP and monthly gross-income, not an Annual Percentage Rate (“APR”); the APR you actually pay will be dependent on your actual ISP and gross-income for the entire duration of the loan repayment period. To illustrate how much you might pay on your ISL, assuming you are earning $40,000.00 gross-income per year ($3,333.33 per month), with an ISP of 10%, amount financed of $16,200.00, 48 months repayment period, and 21 months until graduation plus 3 months grace period, you will be required to make 48 monthly payments of $333.33 for total payments of $15,999.84. For this example, your total monthly payments would end after 48 months even though you would not have reached the Maximum Implied Annual Percentage Rate of 21%, because you have reached your required number of Maximum Monthly Payments first, assuming that you have no deferrals or other pauses to your payments. You may repay more or less than the amount you received, depending on your specific circumstances. Your loan has a maximum payment period (96 months) inclusive of any months where monthly payments are made as well as any months that are deferred months after you leave or graduate from your program.