6 ms·

Education, like most things in the US, is supported by debt. Tuition for a single semester at Georgia Tech, for an out of state student like myself, would run

Education, like most things in the US, is supported by debt. Tuition for a single semester at Georgia Tech, for an out of state student like myself, would run $14,861: http://www.bursar.gatech.edu/student/tuition/Spring_2014/Spring14-all_fees.pdf http://www.bursar.gatech.edu/student/tuition/Spring_2014/Spr...

whichdan 13y ago
For anyone skimming over this post, $14,861/semester adds up to $118,888 over four years.
- ajtaylor 13y ago
  And that doesn't include a place to live or food to eat. The hidden costs can be quite substantial as well.
  - ef47d35620c1 13y ago
    Or books either. Probably $1,000 in books per year. Maybe more.
- zhaphod 13y ago
  This kind of sky high prices necessarily deprives a large number of intelligent and brilliant people from ever getting a college education in USA. This directly has an impact on the economy in the long run. Instead of funding an expensive military, US fed govt should just pay for every ones college education and recover it over the entire working life of the person in small bits. Better to have high national debt in return for an extremely well educated population instead of a white elephant of a military.
  - ctdonath 13y ago
    Supply and demand. The demand is extremely high, with every high school graduate being pressured to "go to college!" (to what end, few know) and student loans being so easy to get. The supply is limited, as a nation can only produce so many professors and places for them to teach. Your suggestion "US fed govt should just pay for every ones college education" (however paid for) would just increase the demand even more. You'd still be depriving a large number of intelligent and brilliant people from ever getting a college education in USA by the sheer mass of bodies signing up - and you'd still have a limited supply of teachers & facilities, so odds of the "deserving" getting what they need remains low. Demand outstripping supply, prices naturally rise until equilibrium. Making payment easier thru cheap debt or government handouts doesn't solve the problem because that increases the demand without improving supply. MOOCs, by improving the teacher/student ratio by orders of magnitude, does work toward solving the problem (and decreases costs as well!).
- ForHackernews 13y ago
  Would it really take four years to do a masters? I thought most masters degrees were one- or two-year programs.
  - lewispollard 13y ago
    Don't you need a bachelor's degree to begin a masters? So it'd be up to 6 years.
awjr 13y ago
Also the debt cannot be gotten rid of by declaring yourself bankrupt. It is a 'federal' debt. Think the UK has sort of got this right. Your tuition fees are a debt (at very low interest rates) that you never have to pay off unless you start earning significant amounts of money. It's repaid as a percentage of your salary above a certain income level.
- mattmanser 13y ago
  Hmm, "right" is a pretty contentious point here still given the still recent betrayal of the Lib Dems. And 20 years ago it used to be completely free and you'd even be given money to go in the form of grants. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universities_in_the_United_Kingdom#Funding_history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universities_in_the_United_King...
  - philosophus 13y ago
    It isn't really "completely free" if it's coming out of tax revenue, is it? Paid for by taxation would be the correct way to describe that situation, it seems.
  - awjr 13y ago
    Not sure a political party can be relied on to do the right thing. It's the nature of politics. 20 years ago I could buy a house for a decent price. I started Uni in 1990 and that was the first year student loans were introduced. So you'd have to have graduated in 1989 (25 years ago) to not have been impacted by student loans. What has changed is that the cost of going to University has now been transferred correctly to the student. I see nothing wrong in somebody choosing to go to University and I know many people of my era that just went to University because that is what you did. Now people try and evaluate if going to University is the correct career choice. The important thing to remember is that this 'debt' is not an issue. You have to be financially 'successful' to even start to need to pay it off and the interest rate is currently at 1.5% (Commercial rates are around 6-9%) and is written off after 25 years, unlike the US student debt which is at commercial rates and you cannot escape.

whichdan 13y ago

For anyone skimming over this post, $14,861/semester adds up to $118,888 over four years.

ajtaylor 13y ago
And that doesn't include a place to live or food to eat. The hidden costs can be quite substantial as well.
- ef47d35620c1 13y ago
  Or books either. Probably $1,000 in books per year. Maybe more.
zhaphod 13y ago
This kind of sky high prices necessarily deprives a large number of intelligent and brilliant people from ever getting a college education in USA. This directly has an impact on the economy in the long run. Instead of funding an expensive military, US fed govt should just pay for every ones college education and recover it over the entire working life of the person in small bits. Better to have high national debt in return for an extremely well educated population instead of a white elephant of a military.
- ctdonath 13y ago
  Supply and demand. The demand is extremely high, with every high school graduate being pressured to "go to college!" (to what end, few know) and student loans being so easy to get. The supply is limited, as a nation can only produce so many professors and places for them to teach. Your suggestion "US fed govt should just pay for every ones college education" (however paid for) would just increase the demand even more. You'd still be depriving a large number of intelligent and brilliant people from ever getting a college education in USA by the sheer mass of bodies signing up - and you'd still have a limited supply of teachers & facilities, so odds of the "deserving" getting what they need remains low. Demand outstripping supply, prices naturally rise until equilibrium. Making payment easier thru cheap debt or government handouts doesn't solve the problem because that increases the demand without improving supply. MOOCs, by improving the teacher/student ratio by orders of magnitude, does work toward solving the problem (and decreases costs as well!).
ForHackernews 13y ago
Would it really take four years to do a masters? I thought most masters degrees were one- or two-year programs.
- lewispollard 13y ago
  Don't you need a bachelor's degree to begin a masters? So it'd be up to 6 years.

awjr 13y ago

Also the debt cannot be gotten rid of by declaring yourself bankrupt. It is a 'federal' debt. Think the UK has sort of got this right. Your tuition fees are a debt (at very low interest rates) that you never have to pay off unless you start earning significant amounts of money. It's repaid as a percentage of your salary above a certain income level.

mattmanser 13y ago
Hmm, "right" is a pretty contentious point here still given the still recent betrayal of the Lib Dems. And 20 years ago it used to be completely free and you'd even be given money to go in the form of grants. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universities_in_the_United_Kingdom#Funding_history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universities_in_the_United_King...
- philosophus 13y ago
  It isn't really "completely free" if it's coming out of tax revenue, is it? Paid for by taxation would be the correct way to describe that situation, it seems.
- awjr 13y ago
  Not sure a political party can be relied on to do the right thing. It's the nature of politics. 20 years ago I could buy a house for a decent price. I started Uni in 1990 and that was the first year student loans were introduced. So you'd have to have graduated in 1989 (25 years ago) to not have been impacted by student loans. What has changed is that the cost of going to University has now been transferred correctly to the student. I see nothing wrong in somebody choosing to go to University and I know many people of my era that just went to University because that is what you did. Now people try and evaluate if going to University is the correct career choice. The important thing to remember is that this 'debt' is not an issue. You have to be financially 'successful' to even start to need to pay it off and the interest rate is currently at 1.5% (Commercial rates are around 6-9%) and is written off after 25 years, unlike the US student debt which is at commercial rates and you cannot escape.