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>The elephant in the room is that in quite a few European countries (such as Italy, Germany) it's free, hence the well-known phenomenon of the "eternal student"

by jaclaz 9y ago

>The elephant in the room is that in quite a few European countries (such as Italy, Germany) it's free, hence the well-known phenomenon of the "eternal student". You are simplifying it a tad bit too much. In Italy Univesity course is not "free", it has a low cost (taxes and fees + books), but - unless you (with your parents) already live in the city where the university is, there are transfer/lodgement costs. There was an article just the other day on the Corriere della Sera about the situation, I assume you can read Italian, otherwise it is not that bad via Google translate: http://www.corriere.it/dataroom-milena-gabanelli/quanto-costa-mandare-figlio-all-universita/898a5864-2c64-11e8-aa71-9a5a346d5f9b-va.shtml?refresh_ce-cp http://www.corriere.it/dataroom-milena-gabanelli/quanto-cost... And - with the exception of very few specific and "technical" courses the issue is that once you have spent these 15.000-45.000 Euro you are not going to receive - if you find a job - an increased wage when compared to someone without a degree or with an undergraduate degree. Of course the main underlying reason is that there is a high unemployment rate, and "on the market" an "average" degree has not much increased value. Possibly something similar happens for CS, firms have "basic" CS degree as a requirement but do not value much an additional Master.

V-2 9y ago
> In Italy Univesity course is not "free", it has a low cost (taxes and fees + books) OK, so not quite free. I stand corrected, thanks :) In Poland anyway there's no tuition fee - at public universities, of course. > unless you (with your parents) already live in the city where the university is, there are transfer/lodgement costs. I should think this goes without saying... No free lunches for students, either ;)
- jaclaz 9y ago
  >OK, so not quite free. To give you a rough approximation, for taxes there is a complex method of calculation, depending on the combined income of the family, loosely between 700 and 2,700 Euro per year, and the books may be anything between 300 and 1,000 Euro per year.
  - alehul 9y ago
    The original comment was meant to describe the 'elephant in the room' of how relatively inexpensive higher education is in Europe, and it definitely still holds true from a US perspective. At my current university in the Boston area, for example, yearly tuition is around ~$50,000 USD, and that doesn't even include room & board; I'm paying an additional $1,400 per month for a private room in a 2bed/1bath. With that in mind, the original comment definitely still offers a perspective I didn't consider before in terms of the cost difference in relation to the arguments in this thread.

by jaclaz 9y ago

V-2 9y ago

> In Italy Univesity course is not "free", it has a low cost (taxes and fees + books) OK, so not quite free. I stand corrected, thanks :) In Poland anyway there's no tuition fee - at public universities, of course. > unless you (with your parents) already live in the city where the university is, there are transfer/lodgement costs. I should think this goes without saying... No free lunches for students, either ;)

jaclaz 9y ago
>OK, so not quite free. To give you a rough approximation, for taxes there is a complex method of calculation, depending on the combined income of the family, loosely between 700 and 2,700 Euro per year, and the books may be anything between 300 and 1,000 Euro per year.
- alehul 9y ago
  The original comment was meant to describe the 'elephant in the room' of how relatively inexpensive higher education is in Europe, and it definitely still holds true from a US perspective. At my current university in the Boston area, for example, yearly tuition is around ~$50,000 USD, and that doesn't even include room & board; I'm paying an additional $1,400 per month for a private room in a 2bed/1bath. With that in mind, the original comment definitely still offers a perspective I didn't consider before in terms of the cost difference in relation to the arguments in this thread.