Student application portal open on 2026-10-08 with rolling enrollment at 20+ US campuses; eligibility page lists ages 18 to 29, high school diploma or GED, no bachelor's degree, low to moderate income. source
Year Up United is a tuition-free training-plus-internship program for 18 to 29 year olds without a bachelor's degree, paying a stipend and placing students in internships at large employers. It suits young adults who want a paid on-ramp into IT, data or application development and can commit full-time for the program's length. Ask your local campus which tracks it runs and what the stipend is, since neither is published centrally.
The facts
| Category | Returnships and apprenticeships, Software engineering, Cybersecurity, Data engineering and analytics |
|---|---|
| Website | yearup.org |
| Based | Boston, MA |
| Format | hybrid |
| Programs | Application Development, IT Support, Network Security & Support, Data Analytics, Business Operations, Banking, Financial Operations, Customer Success, Project Management, Sales Support, Insurance Operations & Claims |
| Length | Three phases: Train, Experience (internship with a corporate partner), Access (placement support). A student story refers to 'six months of learning and development' before the internship; total length is not stated on the pages fetched. unknown |
| Tuition | $0 'Tuition-free job training offering'. Students 'Earn an Educational Stipend'; the amount is not published. verified |
| Financing | free Tuition-free with an educational stipend during the program (amount not published). No ISA or loan. |
| Admission | basic assessment Apply, interview, enroll. Pre-work includes an academic assessment when applicable, proof of diploma or GED, proof of US work authorization for the program's duration, references and a background check. Must be 18 to 29, without a bachelor's degree, low to moderate income, living near a campus, and available Monday to Friday. |
| Hiring partners (claimed) | Merck, LinkedIn, Exelon, JPMorgan Chase, Salesforce, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Microsoft claimed |
Outcomes
Placement: 72% of graduates employed or enrolled in postsecondary education within 4 months; 45% of interns converted to hire by their host company. Median salary: $55,000 average annual starting salary. reported source
Interview-prep depth
The syllabus is not public in enough detail to score. Paid internship with a corporate partner is built into the program, followed by placement support and ongoing coaching; specific interview-prep hours are not published.
Job support: structured. Paid internship with a corporate partner is built into the program, followed by placement support and ongoing coaching; specific interview-prep hours are not published.
Whatever the program covers, the interview itself is free to prepare for here: coding patterns, system design, practice prompts, company guides.
What a careful reader should know
Year Up is one of the few programs in this category with independent evidence: the Abt Associates PACE randomized trial (published 2022) found earnings 30% higher than the control group six years after the program and gains above $8,000 a year through year seven. The 72% and $55,000 figures are Year Up's own and the 72% combines employment with school enrollment. Application Development is one track among eleven and not offered at every campus; most seats are IT support and business operations.
Sources (6)
This directory takes no lead fees or placement payments from any program. Where a program runs an affiliate scheme we say so on its page and mark the link. Facts carry a badge: verified means we read it on a primary source on the date shown, reported means a third party said it, unknown means nobody we trust has published it.
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