Income Share Agreements to Finance Short-Term Career Training

Many learners face financial and other barriers to accessing and completing occupational training courses. The cost of education has also increased across different types of institutions, while financial aid has declined. In 2019, Social Finance, Inc. launched the UP Fund, a $50 million fund that aims to improve economic mobility by expanding access to job training programs to underserved learners and learners from low-income backgrounds. MDRC conducted a study of UP Fund and its Career Impact Bond (CIB) model with four main goals:

• Build knowledge on whether the CIB model can increase affordability and access to short-term training courses;
• Document the experiences of learners in these programs;
• Examine learners’ short- and long-term outcomes; and
• Assess whether the CIB model is a sustainable and scalable financial model.

This brief provides an overview of the study, details of the UP Fund’s CIB model, and early implementation findings.