5 ms·

It is not worth going $60k-$100k in debt. If you do, at least get an online one.

deleted 10y ago
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gizmo 10y ago
I don't think this is good advice. Online degrees don't give you the same benefits a "real" degree does. Degrees don't just establish a level of mastery within a field, they also provide social status and connections. Even if an online degree is qualitatively equivalent to a real degree, it's worth only a fraction because you don't get these secondary benefits. As a software engineer your earning power will be extremely high, especially if you make wise career choices. 60k debt you can pay off in a single year when you have a decent job. The opportunity cost of not being in industry for a number of years is way higher than anything else, so if you want to focus on the monetary aspect it's the opportunity cost you should be concerned about, not the cost of tuition.
- candiodari 10y ago
  Actually that's a great idea. There's a lot of universities in Europe that have something like a $1k-$5k per year fees and you can get $1k/month comfortable apartments nearby pretty much around every one. e.g. http://www.fu-berlin.de/en/studium/studienorganisation/immatrikulation/rueckmeldung/gebuehren/index.html http://www.fu-berlin.de/en/studium/studienorganisation/immat... and http://www.fu-berlin.de/en/studium/international/studium_fu/studienfinanzierung/ http://www.fu-berlin.de/en/studium/international/studium_fu/... Some of these have quite good reputations too.
chrisherd 10y ago
Fortunately I'm based in Scotland, and comparative the the states a master degree is priced far more reasonably and we have some excellent institution I.e. St Andrews university
- sweeneyrod 10y ago
  That changes things a bit, it's definitely worth doing then. I think St Andrews and Edinburgh have especially good reputations for CS.
- EliRivers 10y ago
  I took a (second) Masters in the UK, basically because I was interested and it was cheap. I think you shouldn't even waver; a quality masters at that price is a steal. Save up some pennies, take a year, enjoy the subject, enjoy learning, have a great experience. Even now I toy with the idea of taking a year off and just travelling somewhere to do another one. Something just plain interesting. Modern Japanese Literature, for example, or just identifying a few universities with cheap rates and picking something really interesting out of their catalogue. If you do it for yourself, out of interest in the subject and because you just want to be better than you are, at that price it will be worth every penny. There is a frame of mind that struggles to comprehend education for the fun and satisfaction of it, rather than as part of earning more money. I smiled politely and stopped talking about it with them.
nindalf 10y ago
That's interesting. Could people chime in with their opinion on online post-graduate degrees like the one Georgia Tech offers? [1] How impressive would you find a CV that has this degree compared to one that has the conventional degree? [1] - http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/ http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

gizmo 10y ago

I don't think this is good advice. Online degrees don't give you the same benefits a "real" degree does. Degrees don't just establish a level of mastery within a field, they also provide social status and connections. Even if an online degree is qualitatively equivalent to a real degree, it's worth only a fraction because you don't get these secondary benefits. As a software engineer your earning power will be extremely high, especially if you make wise career choices. 60k debt you can pay off in a single year when you have a decent job. The opportunity cost of not being in industry for a number of years is way higher than anything else, so if you want to focus on the monetary aspect it's the opportunity cost you should be concerned about, not the cost of tuition.

candiodari 10y ago
Actually that's a great idea. There's a lot of universities in Europe that have something like a $1k-$5k per year fees and you can get $1k/month comfortable apartments nearby pretty much around every one. e.g. http://www.fu-berlin.de/en/studium/studienorganisation/immatrikulation/rueckmeldung/gebuehren/index.html http://www.fu-berlin.de/en/studium/studienorganisation/immat... and http://www.fu-berlin.de/en/studium/international/studium_fu/studienfinanzierung/ http://www.fu-berlin.de/en/studium/international/studium_fu/... Some of these have quite good reputations too.

chrisherd 10y ago

Fortunately I'm based in Scotland, and comparative the the states a master degree is priced far more reasonably and we have some excellent institution I.e. St Andrews university

sweeneyrod 10y ago
That changes things a bit, it's definitely worth doing then. I think St Andrews and Edinburgh have especially good reputations for CS.
EliRivers 10y ago
I took a (second) Masters in the UK, basically because I was interested and it was cheap. I think you shouldn't even waver; a quality masters at that price is a steal. Save up some pennies, take a year, enjoy the subject, enjoy learning, have a great experience. Even now I toy with the idea of taking a year off and just travelling somewhere to do another one. Something just plain interesting. Modern Japanese Literature, for example, or just identifying a few universities with cheap rates and picking something really interesting out of their catalogue. If you do it for yourself, out of interest in the subject and because you just want to be better than you are, at that price it will be worth every penny. There is a frame of mind that struggles to comprehend education for the fun and satisfaction of it, rather than as part of earning more money. I smiled politely and stopped talking about it with them.

nindalf 10y ago

That's interesting. Could people chime in with their opinion on online post-graduate degrees like the one Georgia Tech offers? [1] How impressive would you find a CV that has this degree compared to one that has the conventional degree? [1] - http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/ http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/