Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The high price of a free college education in Sweden

theatlantic.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 38 posts

Re: The high price of a free college education in Sweden

#11

Post by srdeveng »

purplelobster wrote: post #4
dominotw wrote: post #2

>College in Sweden is free. But rent isn't. And food isn't. Neither is the beer . Its common here in the US to have a part time job to pay for your expenses. Is it not the case in sweden?

Some doing easier course work might. Engineering though? Mutually exclusive at 60+ hours a week workload

Plenty of engineering students at top universities have jobs (not just internships).

Time management is key.

As someone who hires their own interns and Jr eningeers, it's shocking how few applicants have ANY prior work experience.

I had a 15-20hr/wk internship, and worked retail on weekends.

However, I often turned in homework that only outlined the knowns, unknowns, drew a diagram, listed equations that were applicable, and that was it. 50% credit for 30min of work.

Re: The high price of a free college education in Sweden

#12

Post by megalodon »

charlesism wrote: post #6

I don't see any content in that piece aside from: - University is free in Sweden. - Sweden has a high cost of living. - Young people in Southern Europe are more likely to live at home, though the cause of this isn't clear. The title and start of this article sound like the author has some sort of agenda to promote, but there's so little substance that I still can't tell.

Yes, I have no idea where they got the "high price" thing from. Here in Sweden you get paid to study at the university (~$350/month for 9 months if studying full time). On top of that you can choose to take a highly beneficial (i.e. better than banks) loan of ~$850/month to cover for expenses like rent, etc. Many choose to take the loan because it's worth it.

Re: The high price of a free college education in Sweden

#13

Post by alderz »

charlesism wrote: post #6

I don't see any content in that piece aside from: - University is free in Sweden. - Sweden has a high cost of living. - Young people in Southern Europe are more likely to live at home, though the cause of this isn't clear. The title and start of this article sound like the author has some sort of agenda to promote, but there's so little substance that I still can't tell.

I think the article makes a point you are missing: early emancipation drives baby-making and family unit formation, which is one of the biggest sociological problems nowadays. This is the cause of student's debt, as they don't live off their parents. The clickbait title misses the thesis completely.

Re: The high price of a free college education in Sweden

#14

Post by charlesism »

zihotki wrote: post #3

But they have a choice, they can live with parents till graduating or till they get a descent job. If they want to have no debts they have a choice. If they choose to move - that's their own choice.

Or they can live in student housing, in a more affordable city than Stockholm.

Re: The high price of a free college education in Sweden

#16

Post by [deleted] »

alderz wrote: post #13
charlesism wrote: post #6

I don't see any content in that piece aside from: - University is free in Sweden. - Sweden has a high cost of living. - Young people in Southern Europe are more likely to live at home, though the cause of this isn't clear. The title and start of this article sound like the author has some sort of agenda to promote, but there's so little substance that I still can't tell.

I think the article makes a point you are missing: early emancipation drives baby-making and family unit formation, which is one of the biggest sociological problems nowadays. This is the cause of student's debt, as they don't live off their parents. The clickbait title misses the thesis completely.

[deleted]

Re: The high price of a free college education in Sweden

#17

Post by avs733 »

purplelobster wrote: post #4
dominotw wrote: post #2

>College in Sweden is free. But rent isn't. And food isn't. Neither is the beer . Its common here in the US to have a part time job to pay for your expenses. Is it not the case in sweden?

Some doing easier course work might. Engineering though? Mutually exclusive at 60+ hours a week workload

nonsense. I typically worked at least 30 hrs a week while a full time engineering student. There were some semesters that I was TA'ing 15 or so hours per week and working another 20-30. Honestly I did better then because I was forced to focus on time management.

EDIT: I should add that a lot of this was by necessity because of American college costs...but I look at it as a long term benefit for me personally.

Post reply on HN