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$6,600 [1] for a master's from a top 10 computer science program [2] is an absolute steal! My master's program costs that per semester. [1] https://www.omscs.g

$6,600 [1] for a master's from a top 10 computer science program [2] is an absolute steal! My master's program costs that per semester. [1] https://www.omscs.gatech.edu/prospective-students/faq https://www.omscs.gatech.edu/prospective-students/faq [2] http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-science-rankings http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-gradu...

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
zerr 10y ago
You live in the wrong country.
vog 10y ago
These numbers still look very high from a European point of view. It seems it makes a huge difference whether a society deeply cares about educating the population, or cares just superficially. For example, in Berlin you spend less than 300€ per semester, a CS master takes 10 semesters regular time. Add two semesters to make the time more realistic, and you end up with 3,600€ which are roughly $3,800. Oh, and it contains a full time ticket for public transport (which would otherwise cost 970€/year, i.e. 485€/semester). In other words: University education is cheaper than regular public transport, even though it contains a full time ticket. Oh, and if your parents don't have that money, you can get half of the university costs + half of the living costs + half of the rental costs from the state. [1] And note that Germany is by far not the best one in Europe regarding education, in universities as well as all other types of schools. It is regularily and heavily criticized for cutting educational expenses more than is good for the country. [2] However, after reading statements like the parent comment, I suspect it is still pretty good. [1] More precisely, you get a debt called "BAföG", from which you have to pay back only ~50% after finishing - either in rates or all at once. [2] For example, this forces universities into projects financed by third parties (i.e. companies), which adds a strong bias to the research direction and even more so to the results. Even worse, if this research contains business internals (which is easy to claim by any company), this leads to results being only partly published, or not being published at all. To be fair, the latter is more a problem of the law and not of third-party project. There should be a law that demands everything that is fully or partly paid with public money is Open Access as well as Open Source.
- witty_username 10y ago
  But it's subsidized; so people who aren't getting an education are paying for those who do.
  - cagataygurturk 10y ago
    Welcome to social state, where the state thinks the sustainable development of the whole society can be only accomplished by increasing the life level of everyone
  - Isn0gud 10y ago
    One could very much argue that having educated people is more beneficial to the society, and therefore for everyone, than it costs the society. Also educated pay more taxes individually since they usually earn more.
    - gaius 10y ago
      But you'd have to argue it, it isn't self-evident that more education is simply better. Look at the number of PhDs who can't secure post-docs let alone tenure track. They may feel some personal satisfaction from the letters after their names, but it's very questionable that "society" benefits from churning them out. Once you educate people to the level of basic literacy and numeracy, say age 16, it's diminishing returns after that.
  - fapjacks 10y ago
    Yeah, it's sort of like American corporate subsidies: Not every taxpayer owns a petrochemical company. But every taxpayer pays for those that do.
  - vog 10y ago
    > But it's subsidized; so people who aren't getting an education are paying for those who do. This is just another way of saying that the society cares about this issue! To put an analogy: When a society cares about parenthood and children, non-parents pay some share to parents. This is how financial solidarity works. How else should that work? By telling parents that they do a great job, that you appreciate what they do for society, but not giving a single cent to them? That would be hypocritical, not solidary.
tedmiston 10y ago
Something to consider is that many people in CS grad school pay no tuition at all via grad assistantships, either research or teaching.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

zerr 10y ago

You live in the wrong country.

vog 10y ago

These numbers still look very high from a European point of view. It seems it makes a huge difference whether a society deeply cares about educating the population, or cares just superficially. For example, in Berlin you spend less than 300€ per semester, a CS master takes 10 semesters regular time. Add two semesters to make the time more realistic, and you end up with 3,600€ which are roughly $3,800. Oh, and it contains a full time ticket for public transport (which would otherwise cost 970€/year, i.e. 485€/semester). In other words: University education is cheaper than regular public transport, even though it contains a full time ticket. Oh, and if your parents don't have that money, you can get half of the university costs + half of the living costs + half of the rental costs from the state. [1] And note that Germany is by far not the best one in Europe regarding education, in universities as well as all other types of schools. It is regularily and heavily criticized for cutting educational expenses more than is good for the country. [2] However, after reading statements like the parent comment, I suspect it is still pretty good. [1] More precisely, you get a debt called "BAföG", from which you have to pay back only ~50% after finishing - either in rates or all at once. [2] For example, this forces universities into projects financed by third parties (i.e. companies), which adds a strong bias to the research direction and even more so to the results. Even worse, if this research contains business internals (which is easy to claim by any company), this leads to results being only partly published, or not being published at all. To be fair, the latter is more a problem of the law and not of third-party project. There should be a law that demands everything that is fully or partly paid with public money is Open Access as well as Open Source.

witty_username 10y ago
But it's subsidized; so people who aren't getting an education are paying for those who do.
- cagataygurturk 10y ago
  Welcome to social state, where the state thinks the sustainable development of the whole society can be only accomplished by increasing the life level of everyone
- Isn0gud 10y ago
  One could very much argue that having educated people is more beneficial to the society, and therefore for everyone, than it costs the society. Also educated pay more taxes individually since they usually earn more.
  - gaius 10y ago
    But you'd have to argue it, it isn't self-evident that more education is simply better. Look at the number of PhDs who can't secure post-docs let alone tenure track. They may feel some personal satisfaction from the letters after their names, but it's very questionable that "society" benefits from churning them out. Once you educate people to the level of basic literacy and numeracy, say age 16, it's diminishing returns after that.
- fapjacks 10y ago
  Yeah, it's sort of like American corporate subsidies: Not every taxpayer owns a petrochemical company. But every taxpayer pays for those that do.
- vog 10y ago
  > But it's subsidized; so people who aren't getting an education are paying for those who do. This is just another way of saying that the society cares about this issue! To put an analogy: When a society cares about parenthood and children, non-parents pay some share to parents. This is how financial solidarity works. How else should that work? By telling parents that they do a great job, that you appreciate what they do for society, but not giving a single cent to them? That would be hypocritical, not solidary.

tedmiston 10y ago

Something to consider is that many people in CS grad school pay no tuition at all via grad assistantships, either research or teaching.