We believe that quality education should be open to all regardless of their socio-economic background or access to financial markets. We do not want money to be a reason students cannot attend 42, so we do not charge tuition and students don’t need to purchase devices or books to complete the 42 program.

Our entire program is designed to develop the skills that the modern digital workplace requires for software engineers, developers, and programmers. Students don’t just learn how to code: they learn how to think, how to be creative, how to problem-solve, and how to work in teams and on projects. The skills they learn are design for what employers need for today and tomorrow’s workplace.

The traditional education system is not designed to suit everyone, which is fine, but there need to be alternatives. Our educational model is structured on project-based learning, peer-to-peer correction, and gamification. We don’t have any teachers, classes or courses.

Investing in Growing America’s Economy

According to The Boston Consulting Group, the United States is the leading economic power in the world and the sixth in terms of the digital economy. The quality of a country’s digital environment helps to support strong economic growth. If the United States wishes to maintain its place, it will need to continue developing its digital economy.

The future economic growth of the United States is specifically related to its innovative capacity and to the digital transformation of its businesses. The shortage of competent developers delays the transformation of these projects, which may also become the sources of other jobs. On top of this, studies in the United States are very expensive and do not allow everyone to receive an education. 42 is a high quality, computer-programming training program, which provides its curriculum completely free-of-charge to its students. The United States has always been the country of entrepreneurship and innovation. Thanks to the prevailing open-minded spirit, Americans allow for differing solutions and for innovative thought, notably in the field of education.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, about 70% of the graduating seniors from the class of 2013 finished their studies having incurred an average debt of $28,400. This is due to increases in tuition costs (up over 440% in 25 years, which is an increase of more than 1,225% since 1978).

According to Forbes magazine, almost three quarters of all graduates have had to contract a loan. The increasing levels of student debt burdens these students financially, and this has adverse effects on their credit capabilities. Furthermore, this rising student debt can have negative consequences on overall economic consumption rates, housing finances, while also delaying the creation and installation of new families.

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, merely 10% of the students within the 146 best universities come from the lower-middle class.

According to a report in the Hamilton project, children of well-off families are disproportionately likely to stay well-off and children of poor families are very likely to remain poor. For example, a child born to parents with income in the lowest quintile has a likelihood that is more than 10 times greater of ending up in the lowest quintile than ending in the highest as an adult (43 percent versus 4 percent). And, a child born to parents in the highest quintile rather than in the lowest (40 percent versus 8 percent). As expressed within this report, “These results run counter to the historic vision of the United States as a land of equal opportunity.”