of Make School on Income Share Agreements and the Future of College

Make School offers an applied computer science bachelor’s degree in San Francisco, with project-based classes, industry-experienced faculty, and an intensive path to graduate in two years. Students pay tuition only if they get a job, while the school takes on financing costs and repayment risk. Rossmann says students build portfolios from their first weeks, giving recruiters evidence of their practical and theoretical skills.

Rossmann argues that career preparation and liberal arts skills can go together. Employers value critical thinking, communication, and cultural awareness alongside technical ability. He says a purely non-career-focused education is a greater risk for students without family wealth or a safety net, so Make School combines technical foundations with liberal arts components.

Rossmann says most people who could become strong engineers are not well served by self-directed courses; he cites typical MOOC completion rates of 2% to 5%. He describes failing to teach himself programming before succeeding with strong teachers, and says real-time mentors helped him learn far faster. Make School uses theory, repeated concepts across different technologies, projects, and faculty who help students get unstuck.

Rossmann expects more alternatives to emerge as students question the cost and outcomes of traditional colleges. He says degree requirements remain common in university recruiting, despite public claims that companies have dropped them, and argues that anecdotes about people succeeding without degrees do not create an accessible pathway for most lower-income students. He expects more programs to tie payment to outcomes, whether through ISAs or similar structures, and warns that an ISA can raise costs if it replaces scholarships.

Rossmann advises YC founders to focus on making something people want and avoid activity that does not help customers or the business. He also urges founders to track whether their startup is default alive or default dead and make strategic changes before cash runs out. He says fundraising optimization should not distract from keeping the company operating.