So basically it's a student loan with a friendly debt collection policy?
I don't know of a student loan that disappears if you don't get a job that pays more than $50,000/yr
Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
221–230 of 275 posts
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#222This is awesome!
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#223Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#224Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#225Bravo! This is overdue. Back in the early 80's my dad ( a chess teacher from Odessa ) immigrated to NYC ( with just $150 ). My mom worked 3 jobs to put him through Yeshiva Uni where he learned Cobol, JCL, and Fortran. He ended up getting hired right away by Lehman Bros, and realized he was sitting on a gold-mine. Tons of well-educated immigrants were coming onto the golden-paved shores, with 0 knowledge of computer p…
Write it in an article.
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
Germany is an outlier in higher education. In the US, $10k is lucky to get you 1 year of in-state tuition and books (excluding room and board) at an average public state school with a CS program. If you go to college in a state different than what you live in, the rates are even higher.
In Scotland, there are no tuition fees charged to anyone from the EU (except England and Wales - funny story - see bottom). I have a student loan from my studies, but it was only due to the need for living expenses, and the government insisted (legally) that my parents contributed to them based on their income. The loan's interest rate is capped at inflation (0% real term interest), so it is quite literally the best…
Out of interest, what was the Scottish universities' plan if the independence referendum had succeeded (in which case EU law would have prevented them from charging or discriminating against English students, and suddenly England's 10-times-bigger population would have had a £9,000 per year incentive to go to Scotland for uni...)
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#227In the registration process: Are you legally authorized to work in the United States? Just a note: We are currently unable to offer income-based repayment outside of the United States. You can still attend Lambda School, but you would have to pay at least $10,000 up-front $10,000 - that's about as expensive as a high quality bachelor's degree (in Germany) at private university via distance learning, where someone can…
Germany is an outlier in higher education. In the US, $10k is lucky to get you 1 year of in-state tuition and books (excluding room and board) at an average public state school with a CS program. If you go to college in a state different than what you live in, the rates are even higher.
In Australia, bachelors degrees are $15k to $30k, and you don't pay until you have a job. And with the benefits rules, sometimes you can receive more in benefits to enable you to study than the student debt you'll incur.
I'm a little surprised US undergraduate tuition manages to stay that high, as it seems it would often be cheaper to migrate to Europe or Australia for the purposes of study (and Australia and Europe are quite receptive to that... education is Australia's third biggest export...)
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Scotland, there are no tuition fees charged to anyone from the EU (except England and Wales - funny story - see bottom). I have a student loan from my studies, but it was only due to the need for living expenses, and the government insisted (legally) that my parents contributed to them based on their income. The loan's interest rate is capped at inflation (0% real term interest), so it is quite literally the best…
Out of interest, what was the Scottish universities' plan if the independence referendum had succeeded (in which case EU law would have prevented them from charging or discriminating against English students, and suddenly England's 10-times-bigger population would have had a £9,000 per year incentive to go to Scotland for uni...)
The vast majority of the big money comes from non-EU citizens studying in Scotland, who get charged double, triple or even more than English students, especially for subjects with good job prospects like business, law and medicine. I imagine they would have increased non-EU places at the expense of EU places to compensate. There was an idea to allow foreign nationals to stay much longer after finishing their degree in order to work and gain experience, which would have made studying in an independent Scotland more attractive.
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Sweden 10K would cover most of your living expenses for a year. Oh, you're talking about the cost of education? Well that part is free ;)
The original example was 10k for a "private university via distance learning", which I assume won't be free in Sweden either. FWIW, I paid 250 euros per semester in Germany, most of which was for the public transport ticket.
Private universities don't exist in Sweden, at least none that offer CS degrees. There are a few MBAs for which one has to pay the full price but they are usually only attended by professionals and charged to their employer.
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#230Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed, it is difficult to compete with the price of a fully subsidized education. That said, we still have students from the EU that attend Lambda School. It's not all about cost, it's also about use of time. You can get a degree that is more well recognized in four years, or you can attend Lambda School and work for three years. Would you rather hire someone with an official degree from a community college or someo…
The concept of community colleges in the way you have in the US doesn't really exist in Europe in the same format. It's a result of education being cheap or free that everyone can attend "real" universities. So you're comparing someone with a 3 year university degree to someone from a 6 month bootcamp. I know who I would pick for my team.
What if you compared someone with a 3 year university degree against someone with a 6 month bootcamp and 2.5 year work experience?