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A bachelor’s degree could cost $10,000 total. Here’s how

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Re: A bachelor’s degree could cost $10,000 total. Here’s how

#51

Post by gph »

L_Rahman wrote: post #47
gph wrote: post #26

How I plan on getting a bachelor's degree for ~15k. 1. Go to a community college in a county that you are a resident for your two-year associates. The money I'm getting from Pell grants is paying my 18-credit hours per semester tuition right now (Roughly $120 per credit hour tuition). Books on top of that are costing me about 300 a semester (buy cheap old editions as much as possible). I've gotten scholarship money t…

3. Be very poor and very smart and go to any of the world's best institutions for free. This is something that a lot of low income students never take into account when applying to schools. The fact of the matter is that most of America's top tier institutions will cover cost of tuition, as well as housing, for most of its poorer students.

So, be in the top 2-5% and come from poverty? That might work for a few, but it seems a bit unrealistic of a policy for affordable higher education for the rest of us.

Re: A bachelor’s degree could cost $10,000 total. Here’s how

#52

Post by L_Rahman »

gph wrote: post #51
L_Rahman wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3. Be very poor and very smart and go to any of the world's best institutions for free. This is something that a lot of low income students never take into account when applying to schools. The fact of the matter is that most of America's top tier institutions will cover cost of tuition, as well as housing, for most of its poorer students.

So, be in the top 2-5% and come from poverty? That might work for a few, but it seems a bit unrealistic of a policy for affordable higher education for the rest of us.

In most of the schools I was considering the family annual income cutoff is around $65k a year. That's below the median for the country, and covers most of the lower and lower middle class. That's a pretty substantial part of this country.

As for being in the top 2-5%, that unfortunately is still a requirement.

Re: A bachelor’s degree could cost $10,000 total. Here’s how

#53

Post by mdturnerphys »

The LDS (Mormon) Church has a new program for members to get an online bachelor's degree from BYU-Idaho for a total tuition cost of $7,800 [1]. Judging from member/non-member tuition on campus, that's probably subsidized at a rate of 1:1, but even $15,600 isn't too bad.

[1] http://www.byui.edu/online/pathway/tuition

Re: A bachelor’s degree could cost $10,000 total. Here’s how

#54

Post by prostoalex »

ballard wrote: post #16

Or $0, if the sheepskin, corrected homework and grades won't matter. Audit classes at the large institution of your choice means just sitting in on whatever lectures you like. In big lecture halls, even with attendance, it's really quite simple to go unnoticed. Interactive classes JD/MBA might get dicey, but otherwise the worst that can happen is you get thrown out. BFD. Also, Coursera, Udacity, OCW, Kahn and iTunes…

Not all degrees can be attained by reading a book and passing a test. Chemistry, physics, medical school and others all require labs and pretty expensive equipment.

Re: A bachelor’s degree could cost $10,000 total. Here’s how

#55

Post by phamilton »

mdturnerphys wrote: post #53

The LDS (Mormon) Church has a new program for members to get an online bachelor's degree from BYU-Idaho for a total tuition cost of $7,800 [1]. Judging from member/non-member tuition on campus, that's probably subsidized at a rate of 1:1, but even $15,600 isn't too bad. [1] http://www.byui.edu/online/pathway/tuition

BYU in Provo is still less than $10k tuition over 4 years and is arguably a much more prestigious and well rounded school.

Also important is the abundance of merit based scholarships at both schools. I know many people who were on either half tuition or full tuition scholarships their whole 4 years.

Re: A bachelor’s degree could cost $10,000 total. Here’s how

#56

Post by anologwintermut »

L_Rahman wrote: post #25
ballard wrote: post #16

Or $0, if the sheepskin, corrected homework and grades won't matter. Audit classes at the large institution of your choice means just sitting in on whatever lectures you like. In big lecture halls, even with attendance, it's really quite simple to go unnoticed. Interactive classes JD/MBA might get dicey, but otherwise the worst that can happen is you get thrown out. BFD. Also, Coursera, Udacity, OCW, Kahn and iTunes…

I've found that the smallest classes at my school have also been the most rewarding. Sure you could sit in every day on my morning Thermo lecture and go unnoticed, but I've learned very little in that class that I couldn't already get out of an excellent textbook. On the other hand Pharmacokinetics meets once a week in the professor's office. He also happens to be one of the leaders of the field. For two hours a week…

out of curiosity, how does Foucault's Panopticon relate to museum curation

Re: A bachelor’s degree could cost $10,000 total. Here’s how

#57

Post by mdturnerphys »

phamilton wrote: post #55
mdturnerphys wrote: post #53

The LDS (Mormon) Church has a new program for members to get an online bachelor's degree from BYU-Idaho for a total tuition cost of $7,800 [1]. Judging from member/non-member tuition on campus, that's probably subsidized at a rate of 1:1, but even $15,600 isn't too bad. [1] http://www.byui.edu/online/pathway/tuition

BYU in Provo is still less than $10k tuition over 4 years and is arguably a much more prestigious and well rounded school. Also important is the abundance of merit based scholarships at both schools. I know many people who were on either half tuition or full tuition scholarships their whole 4 years.

Tuition for members would be $19,400 (8*$2,425) over four years [1].

(I was one of the lucky ones with a full+ tuition scholarship. My wife had a half-tuition athletic scholarship, which was essentially full-tuition because her dad is faculty so she only had to pay half.)

[1] http://finserve.byu.edu/content/tuition-and-general-fees

Re: A bachelor’s degree could cost $10,000 total. Here’s how

#58

Post by lostlogin »

mappu wrote: post #19
beagle3 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I ask how much your taxes are? People in NYC or California making $200K/year often pay >40% (getting close to 50% if you are in the $300K/year range) of their salary in taxes (33-35% federal, 8-13% state, and then there's sale tax. And estate tax) and get no reasonable-cost tuition nor reasonable-cost healthcare. Every time this discussion comes up, US people are quick to quote federal tax rates but when I compar…

Income tax is around 30-35% depending on income. There's a 15% GST applied at point of purchase, so you don't really notice it, and if you're a business it can be claimed back. The NZ Government provides free student allowance (a few hundred dollars per week living allowance for your first 4? years of tertiary education, means-tested against your parents' income, not paid back) as well as interest-free student loans…

I agree with all this. Just one addition - fuel is taxed quite a lot and in many places here a car is a necessity as public transport is poor. Its a bit over $2 per litre. Edit: Property taxes are about $2k per year on an average house in Auckland. An average house is about $500k in Auckland as the New Zealand love of property makes the market rather expensive when compared to income. I'm using NZ dollars.

Re: A bachelor’s degree could cost $10,000 total. Here’s how

#59

Post by hobzy »

Have young american students looking for a university ever thought of studying abroad ? I mean hell, my (swiss) bachelor's degree costs 580$ a semester, so 3480$ ... Add 1160$ and you have a Master's degree. Average salary is between 84K$ - 96K$ / year when I'm done. Even with a foreign diploma they can come back to the US if they want to work there.

Re: A bachelor’s degree could cost $10,000 total. Here’s how

#60

Post by willchilcutt »

pwthornton wrote: post #38
willchilcutt wrote: post #14

How about go to an in-state school, get a scholarship (many go unclaimed every year), and get an on campus job? I, along with many people I know, got paid to go to school this way. Why people are paying tens of thousands of dollars a year/semester is beyond me.

What years did you attend? College costs have risen sharply, especially as states cut funding to state institutions.

2009-2012
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