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(Response to above, and most of its responses.) I understand that you can not show up and pass a class, but why in the world would you spend all that money and

(Response to above, and most of its responses.) I understand that you can not show up and pass a class, but why in the world would you spend all that money and time on a physical university if you aren't going to go to class? Why not just read a book and get a job?

eric-hu 15y ago
Sadly, because of what a degree means. This goes doubly so for a degree from a "big name". I strongly disagree with this sentiment, but I can't deny that a majority of people I meet will be impressed with someone who went to MIT, Yale or Harvard. Likewise, I think a majority of people (albeit a lesser-majority) will have reservations about someone with "only" a high school education. In most industries, you won't find people saying "show me what you can do" before you show them you have a degree. The tech industry is far more egalitarian in this sense, which is awesome.
paulcapelli 15y ago
The question you should be asking: what is the marginal benefit of ass-in-seat time to a student?
wisty 15y ago
Because you hadn't heard about Western Governors University, and thought you needed to enrol in a brick-and-mortar university to get a half-way credible degree?
perokreco 15y ago
Most of the benefits university provides are not gained in class, those being accreditation, networking, and being in a group of really smart people. Moreover a lot of people are spending somebody else's money through scholarships and etc.
tomjen3 15y ago
I had a course split between low level computer architecture and networks. The low level part was awesome, but the guy who did the network part was reading from the powerpoint slides that came with the teachers manual. It was so bad, I stopped going to the lectures. Ended up with the highest possible grade, so little was lost.
shard 15y ago
Not every class has a professor who is engaging, funny, presents the material in an intuitive way, and invested in his/her students' success. My college tuition was on a per-semester basis, and not a per-unit basis, so I took the required classes as well as classes I found interesting, but spent more time on the later than former.

eric-hu 15y ago

Sadly, because of what a degree means. This goes doubly so for a degree from a "big name". I strongly disagree with this sentiment, but I can't deny that a majority of people I meet will be impressed with someone who went to MIT, Yale or Harvard. Likewise, I think a majority of people (albeit a lesser-majority) will have reservations about someone with "only" a high school education. In most industries, you won't find people saying "show me what you can do" before you show them you have a degree. The tech industry is far more egalitarian in this sense, which is awesome.

paulcapelli 15y ago

The question you should be asking: what is the marginal benefit of ass-in-seat time to a student?

wisty 15y ago

Because you hadn't heard about Western Governors University, and thought you needed to enrol in a brick-and-mortar university to get a half-way credible degree?

perokreco 15y ago

Most of the benefits university provides are not gained in class, those being accreditation, networking, and being in a group of really smart people. Moreover a lot of people are spending somebody else's money through scholarships and etc.

tomjen3 15y ago

I had a course split between low level computer architecture and networks. The low level part was awesome, but the guy who did the network part was reading from the powerpoint slides that came with the teachers manual. It was so bad, I stopped going to the lectures. Ended up with the highest possible grade, so little was lost.

shard 15y ago

Not every class has a professor who is engaging, funny, presents the material in an intuitive way, and invested in his/her students' success. My college tuition was on a per-semester basis, and not a per-unit basis, so I took the required classes as well as classes I found interesting, but spent more time on the later than former.