[dragonwriter]

> Looking around, ~$11.4K is the average tuition for a coding school, so this proposition works out to be a rather high interest loan (that can't be paid off early)

You are paying extra in the hoped-for successful case in return for paying less if the whole thing turns out to be a bust. Or, equivalently, you are paying a lot extra for a portion of the tuition (which is, in fact, a straight $20,000—the $30,000 maximum minus the $10,000 stipend) to be due over time after completion, repaid on an income contingent basis, and foregone in part or in whole if after-program income isn't at least $200K over two years.