4 ms·

College costs a lot more than just tuition. You have room and board, fees and 'service charges' galore, textbooks, living expenses, etc.

by sswezey 14y ago

ChuckMcM 14y ago
I am aware. I've got one in college, one recently graduated, and one entering next year. And many of my kid's peers are currently in college. All of the room and board costs in every college we've looked at, or sent someone too, could be paid with a part time job taken at the same time as attending classes. The idea that getting a STEM degree is outside the reach of kids today without going into lifelong debt is a myth.
- jere 14y ago
  Agreed. I went to a dirt cheap state university and worked part time throughout college. With help from my not very well off parents, I came out without any debt at all. One of my gigs was Resident Assistant. While it may not have been the most lucrative job, it did cover room and board and included a stipend which easily covered textbooks and fees.
- bane 14y ago
  One of the things I remember distinctly in High School oh so many years ago was the overwhelming impression handed down by the administration that if you couldn't make it into a top tier college you may as well just go vocational and rebuild transmissions for the rest of your life. It was such a pervasive piece of propaganda nonsense that entire groups of my peers, with their wallet terrified parent's blessing, made long reaching life long decisions not to pursue an upper education but try and land in the best possible vocational job. I personally was so terrorized by it that I flaked out and never even took the SATs, convinced that my mediocre high school GPA had damned me to a life of cleaning drainage gutters, resurfacing outdoor wooden structures or at best tech support in a call center that, defeated, I didn't even try. It wasn't until several years after graduating High School, fed up with dead-end bullshit jobs that I signed up to the local community college almost on a dare. I met with a very old, nearing retirement, placement councilor who completely turned my world upside down. He carefully and patiently explained to me that the myth the education system propagated, the one that I, my classmates and our parents had been fed, was a complete a total line of nonsense. I sat there, in raw disbelief as I found out that I could finish my first two years of my undergrad there, then transfer every single one of my credits and start as a junior at the local state university. And I could do it at some ridiculous price that I, even making next to nothing, could easily afford. I thought he was a liar, a schemer who was trying to put me onto something. Everything he said sounded like such a polar opposite of the system described to me during my teenage years that I went to another campus for the school and spoke to a completely different councilor who only confirmed everything, and also told me that the degree program I was interested in was so close to another program that if I took 2 more courses I could get both degrees almost for the price of one. It's like spending a fortune on off-sale, high fashion brand shirts only to find out that if you wait a season you can pick up most of the same stuff at discount clothiers like Ross for $10 a shirt. It took me a long time, as I was working and had significant living expenses to handle, but I finished my B.S. in 5 and a half years and my M.S. in 3 and a half -- debt free, paid for either on my own or by spending 20 minutes filling out grant applications at the student aid office. It was madness. And it was the truth. edit a previous set of back of the envelope numbers http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3753975 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3753975
rubiety 14y ago
Room and board is double-counting. You'd ultimately have to pay for that anyways (college or not), so it's hard to attribute that entirely to the "cost of college" - it's not a net cost.
- rayiner 14y ago
  Counting tuition + room + board + opportunity cost is double counting. But you have to count either room and board or opportunity cost.
- dredmorbius 14y ago
  It still needs to be paid and financed. Many colleges are in higher-rent areas (though many also are not). Students will need loans, income, stipends, or grants for these expenses. Books are another large cost.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

College costs a lot more than just tuition. You have room and board, fees and 'service charges' galore, textbooks, living expenses, etc.

by sswezey 14y ago

College costs a lot more than just tuition. You have room and board, fees and 'service charges' galore, textbooks, living expenses, etc.

ChuckMcM 14y ago

I am aware. I've got one in college, one recently graduated, and one entering next year. And many of my kid's peers are currently in college. All of the room and board costs in every college we've looked at, or sent someone too, could be paid with a part time job taken at the same time as attending classes. The idea that getting a STEM degree is outside the reach of kids today without going into lifelong debt is a myth.

jere 14y ago
Agreed. I went to a dirt cheap state university and worked part time throughout college. With help from my not very well off parents, I came out without any debt at all. One of my gigs was Resident Assistant. While it may not have been the most lucrative job, it did cover room and board and included a stipend which easily covered textbooks and fees.
bane 14y ago
One of the things I remember distinctly in High School oh so many years ago was the overwhelming impression handed down by the administration that if you couldn't make it into a top tier college you may as well just go vocational and rebuild transmissions for the rest of your life. It was such a pervasive piece of propaganda nonsense that entire groups of my peers, with their wallet terrified parent's blessing, made long reaching life long decisions not to pursue an upper education but try and land in the best possible vocational job. I personally was so terrorized by it that I flaked out and never even took the SATs, convinced that my mediocre high school GPA had damned me to a life of cleaning drainage gutters, resurfacing outdoor wooden structures or at best tech support in a call center that, defeated, I didn't even try. It wasn't until several years after graduating High School, fed up with dead-end bullshit jobs that I signed up to the local community college almost on a dare. I met with a very old, nearing retirement, placement councilor who completely turned my world upside down. He carefully and patiently explained to me that the myth the education system propagated, the one that I, my classmates and our parents had been fed, was a complete a total line of nonsense. I sat there, in raw disbelief as I found out that I could finish my first two years of my undergrad there, then transfer every single one of my credits and start as a junior at the local state university. And I could do it at some ridiculous price that I, even making next to nothing, could easily afford. I thought he was a liar, a schemer who was trying to put me onto something. Everything he said sounded like such a polar opposite of the system described to me during my teenage years that I went to another campus for the school and spoke to a completely different councilor who only confirmed everything, and also told me that the degree program I was interested in was so close to another program that if I took 2 more courses I could get both degrees almost for the price of one. It's like spending a fortune on off-sale, high fashion brand shirts only to find out that if you wait a season you can pick up most of the same stuff at discount clothiers like Ross for $10 a shirt. It took me a long time, as I was working and had significant living expenses to handle, but I finished my B.S. in 5 and a half years and my M.S. in 3 and a half -- debt free, paid for either on my own or by spending 20 minutes filling out grant applications at the student aid office. It was madness. And it was the truth. edit a previous set of back of the envelope numbers http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3753975 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3753975

rubiety 14y ago

Room and board is double-counting. You'd ultimately have to pay for that anyways (college or not), so it's hard to attribute that entirely to the "cost of college" - it's not a net cost.

rayiner 14y ago
Counting tuition + room + board + opportunity cost is double counting. But you have to count either room and board or opportunity cost.
dredmorbius 14y ago
It still needs to be paid and financed. Many colleges are in higher-rent areas (though many also are not). Students will need loans, income, stipends, or grants for these expenses. Books are another large cost.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]