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I couldn't take that article seriously after reading this paragraph: The French state spends 6,700 euros per public student per year, but up to thirteen thou

I couldn't take that article seriously after reading this paragraph: The French state spends 6,700 euros per public student per year, but up to thirteen thousand euros can be spent per student enrolled in Grandes Écoles, despite their only accounting for five percent of total students. Thus, though they only teach five percent of French students, these Grandes Écoles receive 30 percent of the government’s education budget. (I read the paragraph after this as well, but it made even less sense, as it was suggesting the low fees paid by French students, of the order of hundreds of dollars per year, were somehow related to the quality of education, when it's simply because the vast majority of the cost is paid for by the state.)

rayiner 3y ago
What do you think is wrong with that paragraph? It’s just saying that limited funding is disproportionally directed to the Grande Ecoles, leaving the other schools with much less funding. 6,700 euros is not a lot of money. It’s about $7,300. U.S. public universities and colleges spend on average over $28,000/year.
- rahimnathwani 3y ago
  What do you think is wrong with that paragraph? The conclusion (the sentence starting 'thus') does not follow from the premises. If we accept the premises as true then, depending on whether the 6700 is the overall average or the average not including grande ecole students, the % should be either 9% or 10%. No sensible calculation from those figures yields 30%. It’s just saying that limited funding is disproportionally directed to the Grande Ecoles, leaving the other schools with much less funding. By my calculation from the provided figures, equalizing the per capita funding for all students would increase the funding of other schools by just 4.7% to 5.2%.
- rahimnathwani 3y ago
  6,700 euros is not a lot of money. It’s about $7,300. U.S. public universities and colleges spend on average over $28,000/year. If I had $28k/year to spend on my education, I'd find a set of great tutors who would be willing to tutor me for an average of $100/hour. Even if I were to have a 1:1 tutoring session every single weekday (260 weekdays/year), that would only cost $26k/year, and I'd still have $2k/year to pay for books and tests. Now, if I had only $7,300/year, I'd probably need to pay the tutors $140/hour, and have daily 5:1 group lessons.
  - musicale 3y ago
    Berkeley charges about $11K in tuition (ignoring other fees) per year for California residents but non-residents (e.g. undergrads whose parents live outside CA) pay an additional $30K. Unfortunately the total costs - including additional fees, living expenses, health insurance, etc.) add up, so in-state costs are around $46K total (or $33K estimated for students living with relatives.) Add $30K for non-residents. Community colleges are usually only two years, but their tuition is something like $3000 for the academic year, and there is no hefty fee if your parents live out of state.
    - rahimnathwani 3y ago
      Right, but we need to distinguish between three separate concepts: A) the prices universities charge B) the costs universities incur C) the reasonable costs of providing a quality education, given current market prices of the important inputs My comment was meant to illustrate the large gap between B and C. You are talking about A, which changes in lockstep with B.

rayiner 3y ago

What do you think is wrong with that paragraph? It’s just saying that limited funding is disproportionally directed to the Grande Ecoles, leaving the other schools with much less funding. 6,700 euros is not a lot of money. It’s about $7,300. U.S. public universities and colleges spend on average over $28,000/year.

rahimnathwani 3y ago
What do you think is wrong with that paragraph? The conclusion (the sentence starting 'thus') does not follow from the premises. If we accept the premises as true then, depending on whether the 6700 is the overall average or the average not including grande ecole students, the % should be either 9% or 10%. No sensible calculation from those figures yields 30%. It’s just saying that limited funding is disproportionally directed to the Grande Ecoles, leaving the other schools with much less funding. By my calculation from the provided figures, equalizing the per capita funding for all students would increase the funding of other schools by just 4.7% to 5.2%.
rahimnathwani 3y ago
6,700 euros is not a lot of money. It’s about $7,300. U.S. public universities and colleges spend on average over $28,000/year. If I had $28k/year to spend on my education, I'd find a set of great tutors who would be willing to tutor me for an average of $100/hour. Even if I were to have a 1:1 tutoring session every single weekday (260 weekdays/year), that would only cost $26k/year, and I'd still have $2k/year to pay for books and tests. Now, if I had only $7,300/year, I'd probably need to pay the tutors $140/hour, and have daily 5:1 group lessons.
- musicale 3y ago
  Berkeley charges about $11K in tuition (ignoring other fees) per year for California residents but non-residents (e.g. undergrads whose parents live outside CA) pay an additional $30K. Unfortunately the total costs - including additional fees, living expenses, health insurance, etc.) add up, so in-state costs are around $46K total (or $33K estimated for students living with relatives.) Add $30K for non-residents. Community colleges are usually only two years, but their tuition is something like $3000 for the academic year, and there is no hefty fee if your parents live out of state.
  - rahimnathwani 3y ago
    Right, but we need to distinguish between three separate concepts: A) the prices universities charge B) the costs universities incur C) the reasonable costs of providing a quality education, given current market prices of the important inputs My comment was meant to illustrate the large gap between B and C. You are talking about A, which changes in lockstep with B.