Your ISA goes into effect on your last day of the Program or if you leave the program after Module 1. However, you won't have to start paying back until after you get a job in a relevant field that pays over $1,000/month.
Once you are employed in a qualifying role* and earn at least $1,000 per month, you will submit monthly payments to us via our platform. Payments are collected on the 1st of the month.
*A "qualifying role" means you are fulfilling a role in the IT or software development sphere, in which you are using the skills you learned at Microverse.
When do I not need to make payments?
There are a few scenarios our alums encounter that will temporarily put the payments for the ISA on hold. If in any given month, any of the following circumstances are true, your payments will be deferred, meaning you will not have payments due:
💸 Your income drops below $1,000 a month
👔 You are unemployed (but actively seeking employment)
🍱 You are working in a non-qualifying role (e.g. as a chef, a nurse, or a lawyer)
👩🦰 You are not able to work due to an illness or disability
👨🏽🎓 You stop working full-time while studying half or full-time for a master's degree
👩🏿🎓 You work part-time, earning <$1,000 per month, studying for a master's degree
Can you provide an example?
The following is an example of a fictional Microverse student and the payments that she makes to Microverse based on a percentage of her salary.
1️⃣ Scene 1 - Job searching
Mara finishes the Microverse program and spends 2 months looking for a job with the help of her Microverse career coach. While she continues looking for a job, she doesn’t have to pay anything to Microverse, and she will never be forced to accept a job that she doesn't like.
2️⃣ Scene 2 - First job
After 5 months of looking for a job, Mara finds one that pays her a salary of $30,000/year, which is equivalent to $2,500/month. Mara starts her new job on January 10th.
She pays a pro-rated amount to Microverse on February 1st since she started her job in the middle of the month, but her total earnings from January will still exceed $1,000.
How do we calculate this?
$2,500/21 = $119 (Mara's per working day salary)
$119 * 15 = $1,785 (Her earnings in January from working 15 days)
$1,785 * 0.15 = $267 (15% of her first salary goes to Microverse to settle the ISA)
On March 1st, she begins her full monthly payments of $375/month (15% of her total salary of $2,500). Mara keeps the rest of her monthly salary ($2,125) for herself.
3️⃣ Scene 3 - Between jobs
After 6 months in her first job, Mara has already paid Microverse $2,517 (the remaining balance is $12,413). Mara quits her job to find a remote mid-level position at another company. While she is looking for a new job, Mara stops paying Microverse since she is not making any money.
4️⃣ Scene 4 - Second job
One month later, Mara finds a new position that pays her $42,000/year or $3,500/month. Mara resumes her payments to Microverse, now for $525 per month (15% of $3,500).
5️⃣ Scene 5 - Back to school
Mara is happy with her current position and has been working there for one and a half years. She has already paid Microverse $11,967 (the remaining balance is $3,033).
However, she decides to go back to school to complete a master's degree. Mara spends one year in an accredited grad school, studying full-time, and doesn't make any payments to Microverse while she's enrolled.
6️⃣ Scene 6 - Return to work
Mara now goes back to working for her previous company and, due to her new qualifications, she gets a raise. Mara is now making $60,000/year or $5,000/month. She resumes making payments to Microverse. Within the next 4 months, Mara has finished paying the remaining balance of the initial $15,000 and now doesn't owe anything else to Microverse.
Summary
In less than 2.5 years worth of work, Mara has paid Microverse $15,000 out of the $103,000 that she has earned working as a software developer. Since Mara is only 25, she still has 40 more years of professional career. Without considering any other salary increases (which she will definitely get), Mara will earn $2.4 million dollars in her professional career. Mara has completely changed her life, all because she invested in her career as a software developer.
Read more about the cost of the Program here.