Keep Tech Training Accessible: Contribute to NSS's Student Software Fund

As you plan your year-end giving, we hope you’ll consider a donation to NSS. Usually we’re looking to grow our scholarship fund, but this year we’re asking for your support for something a bit different.

One of our longstanding goals at NSS has been to do whatever we can to lower the financial barriers to the training needed to start or change careers. That has included offering some of the lowest cost bootcamps in the country, our Opportunity Tuition program, and other scholarships. We’ve also tried hard to avoid tacking on additional fees to the base tuition cost of NSS - many of us experienced the annoying and expensive piling on of fees at college that  increased the cost of education beyond tuition. So we’ve tried to negotiate free or greatly reduced material costs and to absorb these costs into the base tuition rate of our programs. 

One example of this is the licenses to DataCamp for all of our Analytics + Data Science students. Ever since we started our data programs in 2017, we’ve been able to work with DataCamp to provide free access for our students to this powerful learning platform. 

Unfortunately, due to changes at DataCamp, we will need to pay for an annual enterprise subscription to DataCamp beginning in December of this year. While we are getting some level of discount, this will still cost us $25,000 per year, which breaks down to $175 to $200 per student per year. Our first payment of $12,500 is due this December.

We need your help to offset this unexpected expense that will affect many of our students over the year (and beyond).

This powerful learning platform allows our students to:

• Study fundamental concepts before class
• Focus valuable classroom time on applying these concepts to real-world data
• Continue learning up to 6 months post-graduation during their job search
• Practice the skills employers need

$25,000 is a substantial expense for NSS to absorb, particularly at a time when we’re already dealing with the realities of a slow job market for junior tech talent as well as reduced applicant demand due to the economy, job market, etc.

Your year-end gift will help us:

• Keep our program costs stable and accessible
• Maintain the quality of our Analytics + Data Science training
• Invest in the next generation of tech talent

Your tax-deductible contribution will directly support aspiring data professionals in our community. Donate today.

🎓 $200 sponsors one student's full DataCamp access
👩‍💻 $100 provides six months of DataCamp access for one student
📚 $50 funds 3 months of DataCamp access for one student

Prefer to give to our scholarship fund? You can do so below.