5 ms·

"Lower education costs"? Nah i doubt it. Maybe just for the US, but not for the rest of the world. At $ 200 per a month it is almost as expensive as a top tier

by ismail 11y ago

"Lower education costs"? Nah i doubt it. Maybe just for the US, but not for the rest of the world. At $ 200 per a month it is almost as expensive as a top tier university in South Africa. Udacity Cost per a Month: $200 Cost at a South African University: +- $3000 per year/10 months = $300 per a month. This excludes any discounts, bursaries etc. Also ignoring the different levels of quality and depth of what you will be learning.

Asbostos 11y ago
Are those prices with government subsidies though?
- ares86 11y ago
  I don't know about South Africa, but for Chile the values are similar. An engineering degree in a top-tier university is around USD 4500K per year, no government subsides. There are subsides and scholarships but the normal price is around USD 375 per month.
LoSboccacc 11y ago
You don't need to go that far. Even in europe univs are quite affordable. I attended engineering at Politecnico of Milano and it costed me well south of 3k/year. It seems it's mostly the US having an issue in education costs.
- peatmoss 11y ago
  I think the distinction here is between "cost to provide education" and "direct costs to students." You can, through government subsidy, have an expensive-to-provide education delivered at a low cost to students. Most public universities around the globe that are cheap to students are cheap because of these subsidies. Udacity, if you believe is providing a comparable good, is going the cheap-to-provide route. Admirable if it works, because we can educate the masses without spending a lot as a society. As someone who has spent a fair amount of time in academia (masters, first half of phd), I see areas where Udacity is a good substitute, and areas where it is not. If you're an undergrad sitting in the back row of a lecture hall, why not Udacity? If you're a grad student doing research, obviously not. If you're a grad student doing advanced coursework... maybe?
  - ismail 11y ago
    Great point. I think the question is, how do you scale this so for example a University here in South Africa. That may not have the resources is able to tap into the flood of content that is being created in the education space, reducing the cost for students here in South Africa and uplifting millions.
- rectang 11y ago
  You could see this as the free market in the US responding and allowing viable competition for the product of higher education. The commercial MOOC providers can't compete in Europe against government subsidized education.
  - Menge 11y ago
    It is possible to get actual transferable higher education credits for around 100 euros for some european MOOCs. The US MOOCs offer odd bits of paper at this price range because the US credential market is not free at all. Accreditation provides specific barriers to entry in the US to make education cost enough to satisfy the institutions. For European systems, any student who is taking MOOCs is cutting their costs instead of threatening their profit model. Many students in Europe wont have financial incentives to use MOOCs for their primary area of study, but the European model doesn't really offer unlimited free higher education in what one wants whenever one wants locally.
- ahmad19526 11y ago
  > It seems it's mostly the US having an issue in education costs. Are the prices in the US not relative to the GDP per capita? $3k-$4k USD might be cheap in the US but that money means a lot more in different economies.
dcre 11y ago
That's how much it costs in America. But there's nothing stopping them from selling it to South Africans for $20 a month. The marginal cost of an additional student is surely very low.
anishkothari 11y ago
After graduating from a nanodegree program, Udacity now reimburses students half the cost. I'm in the full-stack program and this definitely motivated me to sign-up and motivates me to finish it, too.
- ismail 11y ago
  Thanks. Did not realise this. Though $500 is still a huge chunck of change for people here. Considering the exchange rate

by ismail 11y ago

Asbostos 11y ago

Are those prices with government subsidies though?

ares86 11y ago
I don't know about South Africa, but for Chile the values are similar. An engineering degree in a top-tier university is around USD 4500K per year, no government subsides. There are subsides and scholarships but the normal price is around USD 375 per month.

LoSboccacc 11y ago

You don't need to go that far. Even in europe univs are quite affordable. I attended engineering at Politecnico of Milano and it costed me well south of 3k/year. It seems it's mostly the US having an issue in education costs.

peatmoss 11y ago
I think the distinction here is between "cost to provide education" and "direct costs to students." You can, through government subsidy, have an expensive-to-provide education delivered at a low cost to students. Most public universities around the globe that are cheap to students are cheap because of these subsidies. Udacity, if you believe is providing a comparable good, is going the cheap-to-provide route. Admirable if it works, because we can educate the masses without spending a lot as a society. As someone who has spent a fair amount of time in academia (masters, first half of phd), I see areas where Udacity is a good substitute, and areas where it is not. If you're an undergrad sitting in the back row of a lecture hall, why not Udacity? If you're a grad student doing research, obviously not. If you're a grad student doing advanced coursework... maybe?
- ismail 11y ago
  Great point. I think the question is, how do you scale this so for example a University here in South Africa. That may not have the resources is able to tap into the flood of content that is being created in the education space, reducing the cost for students here in South Africa and uplifting millions.
rectang 11y ago
You could see this as the free market in the US responding and allowing viable competition for the product of higher education. The commercial MOOC providers can't compete in Europe against government subsidized education.
- Menge 11y ago
  It is possible to get actual transferable higher education credits for around 100 euros for some european MOOCs. The US MOOCs offer odd bits of paper at this price range because the US credential market is not free at all. Accreditation provides specific barriers to entry in the US to make education cost enough to satisfy the institutions. For European systems, any student who is taking MOOCs is cutting their costs instead of threatening their profit model. Many students in Europe wont have financial incentives to use MOOCs for their primary area of study, but the European model doesn't really offer unlimited free higher education in what one wants whenever one wants locally.
ahmad19526 11y ago
> It seems it's mostly the US having an issue in education costs. Are the prices in the US not relative to the GDP per capita? $3k-$4k USD might be cheap in the US but that money means a lot more in different economies.

dcre 11y ago

That's how much it costs in America. But there's nothing stopping them from selling it to South Africans for $20 a month. The marginal cost of an additional student is surely very low.

anishkothari 11y ago

After graduating from a nanodegree program, Udacity now reimburses students half the cost. I'm in the full-stack program and this definitely motivated me to sign-up and motivates me to finish it, too.

ismail 11y ago
Thanks. Did not realise this. Though $500 is still a huge chunck of change for people here. Considering the exchange rate