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

U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

hechingerreport.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

361–370 of 563 posts

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#361

Post by ilamont »

tzs wrote: post #343
ilamont wrote: post #252

It's not stated, so I assume that the current "all in" cost is about $75-80k. Some private universities in the Boston area are not far behind, including Brandeis, BU, BC, Tufts, and I believe MIT. I have a high school senior and have been visiting many schools across the U.S. and Canada since last summer. The schools with sky-high all-in costs are not even consideration. If they lop off $10k-$15k per year, we will st…

> I have a high school senior and have been visiting many schools across the U.S. and Canada since last summer. The schools with sky-high all-in costs are not even consideration. If they lop off $10k-$15k per year, we will still be paying a quarter of a million dollars for a four-year education. There are no guarantees of this, either, considering grades and our middle class AGI. You might want to reconsider those "s…

I've seen private schools promoting such aid, but for most there is no clarity on A) whether your student will qualify and B) what the amount will be over the 4-year period.

I've heard from friends with students already in college that there are often ad hoc negotiations between parents and financial aid offices about the size of the discount, which is frustrating, unfair, and open to abuse.

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#362

Post by jimktrains2 »

stefano wrote: post #154

What I find funny in these discussions on HN is how most people seem to be completely oblivious to the obvious solution, proven to work in many developed countries around the world: have the state directly fund universities and don't charge tuition to students (or charge them a small amount). Why is the assumption "universities are private endeavours that should make a profit" something that goes unchallenged on HN?

We also need to move away from the idea that nearly every non-trade position requires a degree and as a society need to stop looking down on trades works. College is expensive because everyone wants to go.

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#363

Post by Aeolun »

jorblumesea wrote: post #357
mam2 wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I will also point out that the European model is not free, universal college degrees for all - access is restricted behind rigorous entrance exams WHAT ?? Not. at. all. I'm french and university is almost FREE (never more than 1000 euros a year and mostly around 300) for anyone with the A-level, at any age. Yeah of course there are exams like for any diploma in the entire world but there are not "super rigorous" es…

> You have no idea of how much you get screwed in the US This is true of many issues the US faces that Europe has solved. Healthcare, education, income inequality, housing, transportation, gun violence... Just go down down the list and it's easy to find "unsolvable American problems" that have solutions, and that we Americans are totally ignorant about or refuse to acknowledge, saying it "won't work for us".

The US might well be better than the EU for the top 20% of people or so, which often happen to be the ones making laws, so I can see how that would happen.

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#364

Post by fouc »

arcticbull wrote: post #352
hansthehorse wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife grew up in Montreal and paid a laughably small amount at McGill.

Yes I paid $2500/semester (CAD) for my engineering degree in Canada. Living in the Bay Area has made me appreciate my people all the more.

20 years ago right?

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#365

Post by [deleted] »

Glyptodon wrote: post #334
WhompingWindows wrote: post #77

UChicago 2011 graduate here. When I attended, I paid about $20k/year in tuition, given that I had various merit scholarships, worked for the university, and that my siblings also attended school. My parents were in for a RUDE awakening in my fourth year, however, when my brother graduated his undergraduate program...UChicago found out via a survey, that I was now the sole college attendee, and without warning they ja…

I got in to University of Chicago, but the finances were rough. They expected my parents to pay around 30% of their (combined) income in tuition after scholarships and loans. Presumably this would have dropped when my brother entered college a year after me, but given that I got into other schools that cost less than half as much it wasn't really a question. My parents didn't really know what to tell me because on on…

[deleted]

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#366

Post by jefflinwood »

jhallenworld wrote: post #225
trgn wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 100k basket weaving liberal arts student barely exists and is a meme to generate rage clicks.

The modern versions are usually gender studies, communications, or English.. As an engineer, it's difficult to accept any non-engineering degree as legitimate :-) So my nephew is getting his degree in "expeditionary studies": https://www.plattsburgh.edu/programs/expeditionary-studies-m... I'm jealous..

I haven't got any idea if that degree will lead to a worthwhile career for your nephew, but that looks like a lot more fun than the four years I spent getting an engineering degree I don't use :)

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#367

Post by xienze »

stefano wrote: post #154

What I find funny in these discussions on HN is how most people seem to be completely oblivious to the obvious solution, proven to work in many developed countries around the world: have the state directly fund universities and don't charge tuition to students (or charge them a small amount). Why is the assumption "universities are private endeavours that should make a profit" something that goes unchallenged on HN?

> proven to work in many developed countries around the world: have the state directly fund universities and don't charge tuition to students (or charge them a small amount).

That would probably work if the system was designed that way decades ago. But we’re already in a situation where “free money” is driving tuition costs sky-high. Taking the next step and just having the government cut a blank check for “operating expenses” to every university will just kick the whole thing into overdrive.

If universities in the US were responsible and could a) keep expenses under control and b) not cry like little children when whenever the state demands some belt-tightening, it could work. But that’s not the world we live in. Universities just keep spending more and more and keep hiring more and more administrators.

My favorite experience with this was when I was in school many years ago at a state university. The state government said that their share of the funding was decreasing by 2% the next year (FYI, state universities are funded by state governments to some degree, it’s not all tuition). Two freaking percent! Basically asking the school to cut back to where they were two or three years ago. Sounds like a relatively reasonable ask, don’t you think?

Oh, you should have seen the wailing and gnashing of teeth that generated. The school was claiming that there wasn’t any fat in their budget (ha), and immediately proposed cutting like 10% of all class sections in math, science, art, etc. Then they riled up the students enough to have them march to the capitol and demand the cuts be rolled back (to be fair though, doesn’t take much to get students to get interested in joining a protest).

Anyway, my point is that US universities only know grow, grow, grow and to top it off they all have a fetish for turning campuses into lavish, over-the-top affairs. Getting them to cut back on anything is next to impossible, and giving them a blank check to be paid for by taxpayers in perpetuity would be a disaster.

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#368

Post by Aeolun »

privateSFacct wrote: post #296
mam2 wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I will also point out that the European model is not free, universal college degrees for all - access is restricted behind rigorous entrance exams WHAT ?? Not. at. all. I'm french and university is almost FREE (never more than 1000 euros a year and mostly around 300) for anyone with the A-level, at any age. Yeah of course there are exams like for any diploma in the entire world but there are not "super rigorous" es…

French universities are MUCH more competitive then programs in the US to get into (you can get into bachelors programs in the US at community college level / for-profit schools etc with almost no reading / writing or math skills or even English language skills. Seriously - if you want to be a vet in the EU it is CRAZY competitive. You simply have no chance to get in unless you have top Abitur scores. Everyone saying…

> Many of the high schools are tiered

Indeed, so people don’t spend a ton of time teaching that which won’t stick no matter what.

It’s absolutely possible to tier-up if you are so inclined, but generally that involves a lot of work on your part.

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#369

Post by war1025 »

shsjxjbsbs wrote: post #344
war1025 wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Private school tuition is the same as healthcare in the US. Everything has an enormous sticker price for anyone who asks, but no one is expected to actually pay that amount. And if you do pay that amount, it's just because you're a sucker who didn't get in on the fact that it's just a made up number. Rich kids may pay that amount, but it probably gets flipped around into some tax-advantaged "donation" that also helps…

I don’t believe it’s true that rich people are getting to write off college costs as a donation. They might be paying them out of a tax advantaged 529 account. The magnitude of this advantage is such that middle-class people probably care the most about it.

there are very few people who don't consider themselves middle-class, so that's not really a useful category I'd think.

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#370

Post by briandear »

jorblumesea wrote: post #357
mam2 wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I will also point out that the European model is not free, universal college degrees for all - access is restricted behind rigorous entrance exams WHAT ?? Not. at. all. I'm french and university is almost FREE (never more than 1000 euros a year and mostly around 300) for anyone with the A-level, at any age. Yeah of course there are exams like for any diploma in the entire world but there are not "super rigorous" es…

> You have no idea of how much you get screwed in the US This is true of many issues the US faces that Europe has solved. Healthcare, education, income inequality, housing, transportation, gun violence... Just go down down the list and it's easy to find "unsolvable American problems" that have solutions, and that we Americans are totally ignorant about or refuse to acknowledge, saying it "won't work for us".

Has Europe solved these things? I lived in France for a number of years and unemployment, especially outside of Paris is very high, the economy is in the doldrums (especially in smaller cities like Avignon,) the Maghreb continue to be treated like second class citizens, and terrorism is a very real and continual threat. Health insurance is good, but the system is running huge deficits. And gun violence? Spend a few minutes with the Marseille police and you’ll see the gangland violence is dramatic. As far as income inequality— that’s debatable. The upper classes are kept from getting too “upper,” but the lower classes still live in decaying concrete block housing. Americans also have about $14,000 more per year in disposable income compared to the French — that’s after accounting for insurance, education, etc. The very poor do better in France, but should we be optimizing society around the ultra-poor? Doing that means that everyone else is worse off and the ultra poor are still pretty poor. As far as transportation, spend some time in smaller French towns. You better hope you have a car or you aren’t going anywhere. There is also the high cost and oppressive regulation around starting a business. Entrepreneurship in France is very difficult despite the word itself being invented there. France rewards mediocrity.
Post reply on HN