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A Guide for Adults Going to College

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Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#141

Post by devgutt »

gowld wrote: post #131
wpdev_63 wrote: post #86

I don't understand why anyone would consider going back to college when there's very legitimate online course options that cost a fraction. Look through edx.org and see for yourself. Remember there's no guarantee that going back to school will net you the job you want but it's a guarantee that you will go into crippling debt that will follow you for the rest of your life. Unless of course your company is paying for y…

Where are the lab classes in edx? Where are the vocational courses in edx? Where are the teaching assistants and the study groups? Where are the 12+ course bachelors-degree curricula?

it seems a startup in the need.

Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#142

Post by acomjean »

stale2002 wrote: post #97
nkot wrote: post #58

What are the chances of attending Harvard / Stanford later in life? I have a life goal of going there but the older I get (24 now), the less I believe it can form into a reality.

Attending Harvard is actually quite easy. They offer classes, both online and onsite, for anyone who is willing to pay tuition. These classes are offered under a program called "Harvard Extension School", and they are the same exact classes that students who got accepted the "normal" way, take. It even gets you a degree. If what you care about is the education and resources offered by Harvard, they are available for…

I work and take classes at Harvard Extension (professional development). The classes are quite good and often taught by people who aren't full time professors but work(ed) in the field.

The only downside is very very few show up for class since they're often taped and can be viewed remotely, which makes for a strange dynamic. Teachers watch the class for feedback, and its difficult to teach against nothing. My genomics class had about 5-6 people actually going to the class, but about 30-40 showing up for the exams.

Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#143

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

zanny wrote: post #137
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Everything else is replicated outside the walls with far less effort than the cost of university. Except for actually holding the degree. And yes, the 100+ person classes are the introductory classes offered in first and second year before things get whittled down to something more personal. However, they really set the tone for those first couple of years, saying "You're not in high school anymore".

Thats a very expensive wakeup call if they cost an average of $4-8k a piece (8-12 classes a year for $40-$60k per). I'm sure the kids really appreciate the experience four years down the line when they can look back at sophomores in a real job and think "gosh, wasn't it great my first two years of college cost me 3-4 years of my post-graduate income and gave me the wonderful value for all that money of 'waking me up'…

I guess it depends on what vocation they are looking at post-graduation and what education is required for those positions. The experience of a software dev isn't a universal one.

Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#144

Post by Fomite »

qubex wrote: post #43
ZhuanXia wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even the ability to declare bankruptcy would be nice. Millions are in a state of what amounts to indenture.

I don’t mean to be contentious here, but the reason for which student debt cannot be discharged by bankruptcy is pretty sound: it’s because education (theoretically) adds warning power to an individual and cannot be liquidated. (I’m not a lawyer and am not an American either.)

On the other hand, you can discharge medical debt, and not dying adds earning power to an individual and cannot be liquidated.

Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#145

Post by groth »

stale2002 wrote: post #97
nkot wrote: post #58

What are the chances of attending Harvard / Stanford later in life? I have a life goal of going there but the older I get (24 now), the less I believe it can form into a reality.

Attending Harvard is actually quite easy. They offer classes, both online and onsite, for anyone who is willing to pay tuition. These classes are offered under a program called "Harvard Extension School", and they are the same exact classes that students who got accepted the "normal" way, take. It even gets you a degree. If what you care about is the education and resources offered by Harvard, they are available for…

They are not actually the exact same classes -- some are, if they are cross listed in the undergraduate catalogue. Others are taught by lecturers hired specifically for the extension school

(my credentials: I graded for Harvard Extension School multivar calc one summer. That guy was far from a harvard professor....)

Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#146

Post by lol768 »

foldr wrote: post #113
lol768 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>At the low ranked school, professors did not reuse homework or exams. They focused a lot more on what you were learning and less on how well you can do on the final exam. They had plenty of office hours - ranging from 3-12 hours a week (3 was considered low). Much fewer students per class. No TA's in between - faculty taught almost all the courses, and the office hours were with them. As someone who's spent a few ye…

>For some staff, teaching is clearly something they _have_ to do and effort is put in appropriately. Well yes, of course. People don't go into academia because they want to teach. Academics are also not rewarded significantly for good teaching.

>Well yes, of course. People don't go into academia because they want to teach. Academics are also not rewarded significantly for good teaching.

When student tuition fees make up the bulk of a department's income, is this reasonable and fair to students? Are they getting value for money?

Some institutions have separate teaching and research promotion tracks mapped to equivalent salary grades.

Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#148

Post by watwut »

BeetleB wrote: post #87
xyzzyz wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- there should be 4 semesters a year, not 2, people should graduate in 2 years, not 4+ At the onset of this journey, I was enthusiastic to learn, but along the way I've been beat down to just wanting to get "the piece of paper" and be done. It's been a long three years and each day forward is increasingly difficult to stomach since I realized I can learn all of what is being taught to me faster on my own. The fact th…

>The fact that it’s a 4-year slog is one of the factors that make university degree holders earn premium in the labor marketplace — conscientiousness, conformity and consistency required to slog through 4 years needed for school to certify it send employers a strong signal that you’re the kind of person who will do their job well. In my career, everyone I've worked with had at least a Bachelor's. Most had a Master's…

I don't want to work again with people who literally hate boring tasks, because when they can't automate them, they just don't do them of half ass them.

I don't particularly love those tasks either, but having to do them all because the alternative is to let project fail is something I don't want to go through again, ever.

Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#149

Post by leetcrew »

delecti wrote: post #130
leetcrew wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

more to the point: it's an unsecured (ie, there's no collateral to take in the event of default) loan with a very low interest rate issued to a group of people who have little to no credit history.

The majority of my loans (about 70k of 80k total) had interest rates above 6%, some were over 8%, and my wife's are about 13%. Considering how low the risk to the lender (in that they can't be discharged in bankruptcy) I would say the interest rates are borderline exorbitant.

the fact that you can't discharge these loans is certainly beneficial to the lender, but it doesn't solve the "blood from a stone" issue.

if you can't make your mortgage payments, eventually the bank sells your house and gets most of the principal back. the interest only has to cover the administrative cost of selling a few houses (possibly at a loss) and then it's all profit.

a certain fraction of people taking on student loans today will never make enough money to pay them off. now the interest has to be enough to actually cover the risk of the lender losing all that money.

even 13% is pretty good for an unsecured loan. according to nerdwallet's loan calculator, this is basically as good as it gets for unsecured personal loans in general. [0]

[0] https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/loans/personal-loan-calculat...

Re: A Guide for Adults Going to College

#150

Post by cliffdover »

two2two wrote: post #63

I'm a returning student about to complete my degree at the end of this year. I went to an art school for a few years out of high school and ended up in customer service positions with some great companies. I didn't want to continue in customer service, so I decided to go back to school. Started with two years at community college, and now finishing up my last two at university. Some insights I picked up along the way…

>I don't think anyone needs a degree anymore to get to where they're going

False, unless by "anyone" you mean people in the US. I'm from Colombia and back to college to get the degree because I can't find a job anywhere without it. In here 90% of job offers require a degree and some only count your experience after the graduation date.

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