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How I plan on getting a bachelor's degree for ~15k. 1. Go to a community college in a county that you are a resident for your two-year associates. The money I'

by gph 13y ago

How I plan on getting a bachelor's degree for ~15k. 1. Go to a community college in a county that you are a resident for your two-year associates. The money I'm getting from Pell grants is paying my 18-credit hours per semester tuition right now (Roughly $120 per credit hour tuition). Books on top of that are costing me about 300 a semester (buy cheap old editions as much as possible). I've gotten scholarship money to cover that, and I'll also get Tax credit money. 2. Transfer to an in-state 4-year public university. Tuition rates will double for me during this transition, but YMMV (I'm in Maryland FYI). The hike in tuition will cost me about 7k a year for two years. Hence ~15k out of pocket for a degree. Moral of the story: If you really want a premier education where you will be learning from those on the forefront of research, by all means spend 100k at an elite private college. If you want to be part of academia or research projects this is probably the route you have to take. If instead you know what career you are going into and you have a desire to learn those skills on your own, then go the cheap route and just get the piece of paper to prove to HR you are worthy of a job. *Obviously some careers might not fit this model, but I'd guess most people throwing money away at private universities could go this route with the same basic outcome.

daguar 13y ago
Applying that strategy in California works superbly well; I've known a number of folks who took advantage of the community college system here and then transferred to Berkeley or UCLA and have a top-tier credential for a fraction of the cost of an equivalently-reputed institution.
austenallred 13y ago
Yeah, my bachelor's degree would cost about $10,000 if I went to all four years (Mormon BYU student)
ahallock 13y ago
This is exactly what I did for my BS in Comp Sci. I finished my degree at SUNYIT in Utica, NY, which at the time, offered the last two years of your bachelor's degree, dovetailing nicely with community college. Final cost was about 16k. I remember people scoffing at community college, but don't pay attention to the elitism; you're being prudent.
pwthornton 13y ago
The only issues I see with this is the peer effect, where students play to their playing field. Intelligent and motivated students placing themselves around less intelligent and less motivated students will often find themselves doing worse too, even up to not graduating. I myself know I am susceptible to this and try to push myself be being around other talented people. Not saying that there aren't intelligent and talented people in community college, but it may have an impact on your performance. The other issue is missing out on extracurriculars. I learned a lot on my student news organization and got to experiment with building websites and trying out new special features (this was back when news orgs were a lot more cautious on the Web). It helped me get my first few jobs. It also helped me make a lot of connections (same with just going to the same school for four straight years). If you go through with this plan, join some organizations as a junior at your four-year institution and get to know people outside of class. Connections matter a lot. Also, join professional organizations and go to conferences. You don't have to start doing that while a student, but it can't hurt either. Luckily you're in Maryland where we aren't cutting higher education left and right. College Park is one of the better state schools, and it's pretty affordable still.
- gph 13y ago
  Good points, I suppose I was looking at it from my POV. Even before I started going to college I've loved learning on my own and developed an enjoyment of computers, so it doesn't matter much to me motivationally who my classmates are. Not to sound cocky, but the Intro classes I'm going through are already below my knowledge level (except some of the Math). By the time I'm hitting the higher level courses I'll be at the 4-year university. I guess it depends on the community college, but I imagine most of the larger ones in major metro areas have extracurriculars that somewhat rival large universities. Here in Baltimore Co. there are a lot of clubs and the student newspaper is a pretty decent production[1]. Still I get what you mean about connections, especially in some of the more social disciplines like business. But for me (Comp Sci) it wouldn't be worth the extra 60k+, and I actually already have some connections into the field through family. Nepotism works for me :D [1]http://blog.ccbcmd.edu/connection/ http://blog.ccbcmd.edu/connection/
tzs 13y ago
Keep in mind, though, that sticker price at an elite private university is often a lot more than you will actually pay if you are not from a wealthy family. For example, according to Harvard: During the 2012-2013 academic year, students from families with incomes below $65,000, and with assets typical for that income level, will generally pay nothing toward the cost of attending Harvard College. Families with incomes between $65,000 and $150,000 will contribute from 0 to 10 percent of income, depending on individual circumstances. Significant financial aid also is available for families above those income ranges. [1] Things are similar at other major elite private universities. If two years of community college and two years of in-state public school will provide all you want, then by all means do that. But if you would actually prefer someplace like Harvard, Stanford, Caltech, MIT, etc., it's worth actually running the numbers rather than eliminating them on the assumption that they are terrifically expensive. Most of them have online net price calculators that will let you enter details of you and your parents' incomes and assets and family situation (how many kids in college, for example), and will tell you your real cost of attending. [1] http://www.harvard.edu/harvard-glance http://www.harvard.edu/harvard-glance
- gph 13y ago
  Yea you're right. If you've put the effort in and get accepted to a top flight university you shouldn't turn it down for economic reasons. Personally this wasn't an option for me for various reasons. But I shouldn't have made it sound like going to elite private universities was economically non-viable. I should have made my counterpoint the private liberal arts universities that don't really add that much value compared to my route. Or even just starting out at Community college and then transferring instead of going straight to a 4-year state college.
zaphoyd 13y ago
My wife is doing this, and while I agree the price is actually sane, the service can be extremely poor and horribly demoralizing, especially if you are bright and used to getting things done. Even at the flagship campuses of a community college system. The administrative functions of the school are extremely poor. Some of the instructors are OK others are downright unqualified to teach anything. When there are problems with registration (putting her in the wrong classes), or with instructors (teaching things that are wrong and grading accordingly), or advising (she has had a new advisor almost every semester and the degree requirements change about as often), there is nobody to go to (they think you are another whiner that just wants to complain your way out of the rules) and no recourse other than suck it up and suffer through. So far she is looking likely graduate with an associates degree free after tax incentives. She is quite disillusioned with the idea now though and many areas of study she was previously very interested in she cannot stand now because it brings up memories of wretched experiences with. I'm not sure she'll be able to stand another two years in this sort of environment though, it feels like such a waste of time to the point where no piece of paper could be worth this much punishment. The difference between her experience and my recent one in a masters program at a top tier university (largely paid by my employer or else I wouldn't have bothered) is night and day. The facilities work. The administration works. You can take the classes you want and the registration system works. Everything can be done online without standing in lines. If you actually want to talk to a person you can walk in and do it rather than setting up an appointment a month in advance. Instructors teach current knowledge and get their facts mostly correct. If you ask them questions they can usually answer them. They treat you like a human being rather than a child they are there to babysit. The other students don't think you are a god because you can show up on time and do some homework. I don't intend to generalize to all community colleges, I am sure there are some OK ones, but at least with the ones I've had experiences with you may have to deal with an unreasonable level of BS in exchange for the discounted tuition. Because of the way the in county / in state rules work you often can't shop around too much and may be stuck with whatever school is where you live.
- gph 13y ago
  Oh I agree. The one I'm at is okay, and some of the instructors (usually the adjunct ones) are good. Still some of them seem like they barely could pass their own course, which can be quite frustrating. The administration is alright, the advisers aren't great, but I already know what I'm doing so I haven't particularly needed them. I can't imagine getting screwed over on registration though, where I am I can register online and I've not had a problem through 2 semesters. Perhaps I'm overestimating most community colleges based on the one I'm going to. Still I'm just going into it with the mentality of it being work more than education. This is an obstacle I have to get through to get where I want to go. I've already decided on my career path, and I've learned more about it (Comp Sci) on my own than I will at community college. And it's something I'll continue to improve at the more I do it, so experience is more important than education. Especially considering how rapidly things change. tl;dr It's definitely not a quality experience, just gotta put in the time and don't let it discourage you. And live in Baltimore County :P
L_Rahman 13y ago
3. Be very poor and very smart and go to any of the world's best institutions for free. This is something that a lot of low income students never take into account when applying to schools. The fact of the matter is that most of America's top tier institutions will cover cost of tuition, as well as housing, for most of its poorer students.
- gph 13y ago
  So, be in the top 2-5% and come from poverty? That might work for a few, but it seems a bit unrealistic of a policy for affordable higher education for the rest of us.
  - L_Rahman 13y ago
    In most of the schools I was considering the family annual income cutoff is around $65k a year. That's below the median for the country, and covers most of the lower and lower middle class. That's a pretty substantial part of this country. As for being in the top 2-5%, that unfortunately is still a requirement.

by gph 13y ago

daguar 13y ago

Applying that strategy in California works superbly well; I've known a number of folks who took advantage of the community college system here and then transferred to Berkeley or UCLA and have a top-tier credential for a fraction of the cost of an equivalently-reputed institution.

austenallred 13y ago

Yeah, my bachelor's degree would cost about $10,000 if I went to all four years (Mormon BYU student)

ahallock 13y ago

This is exactly what I did for my BS in Comp Sci. I finished my degree at SUNYIT in Utica, NY, which at the time, offered the last two years of your bachelor's degree, dovetailing nicely with community college. Final cost was about 16k. I remember people scoffing at community college, but don't pay attention to the elitism; you're being prudent.

pwthornton 13y ago

The only issues I see with this is the peer effect, where students play to their playing field. Intelligent and motivated students placing themselves around less intelligent and less motivated students will often find themselves doing worse too, even up to not graduating. I myself know I am susceptible to this and try to push myself be being around other talented people. Not saying that there aren't intelligent and talented people in community college, but it may have an impact on your performance. The other issue is missing out on extracurriculars. I learned a lot on my student news organization and got to experiment with building websites and trying out new special features (this was back when news orgs were a lot more cautious on the Web). It helped me get my first few jobs. It also helped me make a lot of connections (same with just going to the same school for four straight years). If you go through with this plan, join some organizations as a junior at your four-year institution and get to know people outside of class. Connections matter a lot. Also, join professional organizations and go to conferences. You don't have to start doing that while a student, but it can't hurt either. Luckily you're in Maryland where we aren't cutting higher education left and right. College Park is one of the better state schools, and it's pretty affordable still.

gph 13y ago
Good points, I suppose I was looking at it from my POV. Even before I started going to college I've loved learning on my own and developed an enjoyment of computers, so it doesn't matter much to me motivationally who my classmates are. Not to sound cocky, but the Intro classes I'm going through are already below my knowledge level (except some of the Math). By the time I'm hitting the higher level courses I'll be at the 4-year university. I guess it depends on the community college, but I imagine most of the larger ones in major metro areas have extracurriculars that somewhat rival large universities. Here in Baltimore Co. there are a lot of clubs and the student newspaper is a pretty decent production[1]. Still I get what you mean about connections, especially in some of the more social disciplines like business. But for me (Comp Sci) it wouldn't be worth the extra 60k+, and I actually already have some connections into the field through family. Nepotism works for me :D [1]http://blog.ccbcmd.edu/connection/ http://blog.ccbcmd.edu/connection/

tzs 13y ago

Keep in mind, though, that sticker price at an elite private university is often a lot more than you will actually pay if you are not from a wealthy family. For example, according to Harvard: During the 2012-2013 academic year, students from families with incomes below $65,000, and with assets typical for that income level, will generally pay nothing toward the cost of attending Harvard College. Families with incomes between $65,000 and $150,000 will contribute from 0 to 10 percent of income, depending on individual circumstances. Significant financial aid also is available for families above those income ranges. [1] Things are similar at other major elite private universities. If two years of community college and two years of in-state public school will provide all you want, then by all means do that. But if you would actually prefer someplace like Harvard, Stanford, Caltech, MIT, etc., it's worth actually running the numbers rather than eliminating them on the assumption that they are terrifically expensive. Most of them have online net price calculators that will let you enter details of you and your parents' incomes and assets and family situation (how many kids in college, for example), and will tell you your real cost of attending. [1] http://www.harvard.edu/harvard-glance http://www.harvard.edu/harvard-glance

gph 13y ago
Yea you're right. If you've put the effort in and get accepted to a top flight university you shouldn't turn it down for economic reasons. Personally this wasn't an option for me for various reasons. But I shouldn't have made it sound like going to elite private universities was economically non-viable. I should have made my counterpoint the private liberal arts universities that don't really add that much value compared to my route. Or even just starting out at Community college and then transferring instead of going straight to a 4-year state college.

zaphoyd 13y ago

My wife is doing this, and while I agree the price is actually sane, the service can be extremely poor and horribly demoralizing, especially if you are bright and used to getting things done. Even at the flagship campuses of a community college system. The administrative functions of the school are extremely poor. Some of the instructors are OK others are downright unqualified to teach anything. When there are problems with registration (putting her in the wrong classes), or with instructors (teaching things that are wrong and grading accordingly), or advising (she has had a new advisor almost every semester and the degree requirements change about as often), there is nobody to go to (they think you are another whiner that just wants to complain your way out of the rules) and no recourse other than suck it up and suffer through. So far she is looking likely graduate with an associates degree free after tax incentives. She is quite disillusioned with the idea now though and many areas of study she was previously very interested in she cannot stand now because it brings up memories of wretched experiences with. I'm not sure she'll be able to stand another two years in this sort of environment though, it feels like such a waste of time to the point where no piece of paper could be worth this much punishment. The difference between her experience and my recent one in a masters program at a top tier university (largely paid by my employer or else I wouldn't have bothered) is night and day. The facilities work. The administration works. You can take the classes you want and the registration system works. Everything can be done online without standing in lines. If you actually want to talk to a person you can walk in and do it rather than setting up an appointment a month in advance. Instructors teach current knowledge and get their facts mostly correct. If you ask them questions they can usually answer them. They treat you like a human being rather than a child they are there to babysit. The other students don't think you are a god because you can show up on time and do some homework. I don't intend to generalize to all community colleges, I am sure there are some OK ones, but at least with the ones I've had experiences with you may have to deal with an unreasonable level of BS in exchange for the discounted tuition. Because of the way the in county / in state rules work you often can't shop around too much and may be stuck with whatever school is where you live.

gph 13y ago
Oh I agree. The one I'm at is okay, and some of the instructors (usually the adjunct ones) are good. Still some of them seem like they barely could pass their own course, which can be quite frustrating. The administration is alright, the advisers aren't great, but I already know what I'm doing so I haven't particularly needed them. I can't imagine getting screwed over on registration though, where I am I can register online and I've not had a problem through 2 semesters. Perhaps I'm overestimating most community colleges based on the one I'm going to. Still I'm just going into it with the mentality of it being work more than education. This is an obstacle I have to get through to get where I want to go. I've already decided on my career path, and I've learned more about it (Comp Sci) on my own than I will at community college. And it's something I'll continue to improve at the more I do it, so experience is more important than education. Especially considering how rapidly things change. tl;dr It's definitely not a quality experience, just gotta put in the time and don't let it discourage you. And live in Baltimore County :P

L_Rahman 13y ago

3. Be very poor and very smart and go to any of the world's best institutions for free. This is something that a lot of low income students never take into account when applying to schools. The fact of the matter is that most of America's top tier institutions will cover cost of tuition, as well as housing, for most of its poorer students.

gph 13y ago
So, be in the top 2-5% and come from poverty? That might work for a few, but it seems a bit unrealistic of a policy for affordable higher education for the rest of us.
- L_Rahman 13y ago
  In most of the schools I was considering the family annual income cutoff is around $65k a year. That's below the median for the country, and covers most of the lower and lower middle class. That's a pretty substantial part of this country. As for being in the top 2-5%, that unfortunately is still a requirement.