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How much does it actually cost a university to produce liberal arts majors compared to STEM majors and what would their tuition look like if they only paid for

How much does it actually cost a university to produce liberal arts majors compared to STEM majors and what would their tuition look like if they only paid for what they used and what directly benefited their education?

TulliusCicero 4y ago
My guess is...slightly less? I'm guessing that the cost of instructors, administrative staff, and general facilities dominates the cost of specialized equipment. Would be interesting to see data on though.
- secabeen 4y ago
  Yeah, it's hard to find that data, as any search is swamped by tuition-focused content. My anecdotal sense is that STEM is significantly more expensive. Here are some factors: 1) Salaries for STEM faculty are higher than non-STEM, due to competition from the private sector. 2) STEM education often requires additional lab courses, with their own dedicated staff, space, and equipment. 3) Non-Stem additional instruction (discussion sections, etc.) is taught by non-STEM grad students, who are much less expensive than even STEM grads. Also STEM classes are much larger, with many state school having more than 50% of their students declare a STEM major of some form.
  - klooney 4y ago
    I mean there's STEM, and there's the reality that Computer Science is the tent pole discipline that people mean when they say STEM. And Computer Science doesn't actually need much more than English in terms of infrastructure
    - CogitoCogito 4y ago
      I'd be surprised if math isn't one of the cheapest disciplines to educate.
      - Ekaros 4y ago
        Cheapness to educate doesn't seem to be really a factor in anyway. Just look at price of law degrees... A field where the laws or previous decisions don't change that much. Specially when you are going over the generic stuff.
    - galangalalgol 4y ago
      My cs department had a lot of fairly expensive computing clusters that got updated fairly rapidly. Lots of embedded boards that got updated less rapidly except that they got fried by students often enough. EE had a lot more expensive lab equipment to be sure. But their profs probably get paid less, not competing with CS jobs. It is still kind of strange toe that EE gets paid so much less. It is so much harder. But we just don't need as many EE I guess?
- Schroedingersat 4y ago
  If you ballpark it, generally for a given course, one student's fees could pay the lecturer, a second could pay the rest of the teaching staff, and a third could pay for the facilities that are actually needed. The rest is essentially glorified marketing and multi million dollar salaries for political positions. Kinda like a microcosm for society.
  - nine_k 4y ago
    What are some political positions in a university that command multi-million salaries? Just curious.
    - hither_shores 4y ago
      Investment managers and the administrators who manage them, mostly. Senior school administrators often make high 6 - low 7 figures, but 2+ million is quite rare.
rch 4y ago
Be sure to include the cost of hiring graduates as part of the administration or government into the cost.
silvestrov 4y ago
In Denmark the state pays the full amount that the student pays in USA. Humanities/sociologies: $4400 to $6200 depending on subject. STEM: $6200 to $9200 Above rates are for Danish students. Universities gets paid more for exchange students. source: https://ufm.dk/uddannelse/institutioner-og-drift/okonomi/tilskud/aktivitetstilskud/takstkataloger/uddannelsestilskud https://ufm.dk/uddannelse/institutioner-og-drift/okonomi/til...
- silvestrov 4y ago
  self-reply: There are a couple of main differences between universities in USA and Denmark that drives the high cost: a) Universities in Denmark have no sports teams, facilities or similar. Sport is something you do in your spare time in facilities that the city provides and you do sport with people doing all kinds of other education. b) Universities have no dorms (there is a single exception to this). Dorms are independent "self-owned companies" which houses students from many different schools/unis. c) No real prestige in impressive buildings. Students don't choose uni by how impressive buildings etc are. As the state pays for the education, it has a huge incentive to keep costs low.
  - respondo2134 4y ago
    Canadian universities have all of these. The state pays a big component of their cost with students paying tuition about on par with the numbers quoted above. This seems reasonable; I don't think anyone regardless of program should get it for free.

TulliusCicero 4y ago

My guess is...slightly less? I'm guessing that the cost of instructors, administrative staff, and general facilities dominates the cost of specialized equipment. Would be interesting to see data on though.

secabeen 4y ago
Yeah, it's hard to find that data, as any search is swamped by tuition-focused content. My anecdotal sense is that STEM is significantly more expensive. Here are some factors: 1) Salaries for STEM faculty are higher than non-STEM, due to competition from the private sector. 2) STEM education often requires additional lab courses, with their own dedicated staff, space, and equipment. 3) Non-Stem additional instruction (discussion sections, etc.) is taught by non-STEM grad students, who are much less expensive than even STEM grads. Also STEM classes are much larger, with many state school having more than 50% of their students declare a STEM major of some form.
- klooney 4y ago
  I mean there's STEM, and there's the reality that Computer Science is the tent pole discipline that people mean when they say STEM. And Computer Science doesn't actually need much more than English in terms of infrastructure
  - CogitoCogito 4y ago
    I'd be surprised if math isn't one of the cheapest disciplines to educate.
    - Ekaros 4y ago
      Cheapness to educate doesn't seem to be really a factor in anyway. Just look at price of law degrees... A field where the laws or previous decisions don't change that much. Specially when you are going over the generic stuff.
  - galangalalgol 4y ago
    My cs department had a lot of fairly expensive computing clusters that got updated fairly rapidly. Lots of embedded boards that got updated less rapidly except that they got fried by students often enough. EE had a lot more expensive lab equipment to be sure. But their profs probably get paid less, not competing with CS jobs. It is still kind of strange toe that EE gets paid so much less. It is so much harder. But we just don't need as many EE I guess?
Schroedingersat 4y ago
If you ballpark it, generally for a given course, one student's fees could pay the lecturer, a second could pay the rest of the teaching staff, and a third could pay for the facilities that are actually needed. The rest is essentially glorified marketing and multi million dollar salaries for political positions. Kinda like a microcosm for society.
- nine_k 4y ago
  What are some political positions in a university that command multi-million salaries? Just curious.
  - hither_shores 4y ago
    Investment managers and the administrators who manage them, mostly. Senior school administrators often make high 6 - low 7 figures, but 2+ million is quite rare.

rch 4y ago

Be sure to include the cost of hiring graduates as part of the administration or government into the cost.

silvestrov 4y ago

In Denmark the state pays the full amount that the student pays in USA. Humanities/sociologies: $4400 to $6200 depending on subject. STEM: $6200 to $9200 Above rates are for Danish students. Universities gets paid more for exchange students. source: https://ufm.dk/uddannelse/institutioner-og-drift/okonomi/tilskud/aktivitetstilskud/takstkataloger/uddannelsestilskud https://ufm.dk/uddannelse/institutioner-og-drift/okonomi/til...

silvestrov 4y ago
self-reply: There are a couple of main differences between universities in USA and Denmark that drives the high cost: a) Universities in Denmark have no sports teams, facilities or similar. Sport is something you do in your spare time in facilities that the city provides and you do sport with people doing all kinds of other education. b) Universities have no dorms (there is a single exception to this). Dorms are independent "self-owned companies" which houses students from many different schools/unis. c) No real prestige in impressive buildings. Students don't choose uni by how impressive buildings etc are. As the state pays for the education, it has a huge incentive to keep costs low.
- respondo2134 4y ago
  Canadian universities have all of these. The state pays a big component of their cost with students paying tuition about on par with the numbers quoted above. This seems reasonable; I don't think anyone regardless of program should get it for free.