World's First Massive Online Degree Program Starts Today • Hacker News Board

Re: World's First Massive Online Degree Program Starts Today

#31

Post by hessenwolf » Fri, Jan 17, 2014, 12:24 PM UTC

arethuza wrote: post #27

norswap wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly, 8k€ is what it would cost an American for a year's tuition in Belgium (where I'm from). For Belgians, it's less than 1k€. I don't understand why studying in Europe is not a more popular choice amongst young Americans.

Probably lack of awareness in both directions - apart from Oxford and Cambridge, how many European universities are well known in the US? And for Europeans - apart from Harvard, Yale (and MIT and Stanford for people in the tech world) how many people know about other US universities? This also probably applies within Europe - I have no idea what the top rated universities are for CS or engineering are in Germany or F…

I was at a conference in New Jersey and met two guys. One said, "I'm from Cornell", and stood back waiting for applause. The next said, "I'm from Rice", and also stood back waiting for applause.

Somewhat perturbed by the expectant looks, having never heard of these institutions, and meaning to be polite and sound interested, I asked, "Are they campus universities or city universities?".

Following twenty minutes of discussing relevant technical developments in our fields, we got on like a house on fire, but the assumption of name-recognition more than a 100km from home (that about 5 x umpteen miles) stood unfirmly.

Re: World's First Massive Online Degree Program Starts Today

#32

Post by afshin » Fri, Jan 17, 2014, 12:51 PM UTC

atlantic wrote: post #28

noelwelsh wrote: post #13

Most interesting to me was this: "88% of the applicants are US-based as compared to 10% for the on-campus degree." My guess is that the $7K price that seems revolutionary in the US is just too expensive in a worldwide context. At lot of international students do come to the US, but that's for traditional on-campus education. If you're not going all-in in that manner, might as well attend a local institution for a fra…

That would be correct. In Portugal, university fees are around €1000 per annum. A private university costs around €5000. So by our standards, this is expensive. A second disadvantage is that American degrees are not automatically recognized here - you have to ask for an equivalence; and very likely an online degree would not be recognized, because it does not follow a traditional format in terms of course attendance…

  and very likely an online degree would not be recognized

The actual degree that will be granted for this particular program is simply "MS in Computer Science" from Georgia Tech. So it is not going to differentiated from the on-campus degree.

Re: World's First Massive Online Degree Program Starts Today

#33

Post by ef47d35620c1 » Fri, Jan 17, 2014, 12:59 PM UTC

ajtaylor wrote: post #12

whichdan wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For anyone skimming over this post, $14,861/semester adds up to $118,888 over four years.

And that doesn't include a place to live or food to eat. The hidden costs can be quite substantial as well.

Or books either. Probably $1,000 in books per year. Maybe more.

Re: World's First Massive Online Degree Program Starts Today

#34

Post by zhaphod » Fri, Jan 17, 2014, 1:01 PM UTC

whichdan wrote: post #9

navyrain wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Education, like most things in the US, is supported by debt. Tuition for a single semester at Georgia Tech, for an out of state student like myself, would run $14,861: http://www.bursar.gatech.edu/student/tuition/Spring_2014/Spr...

For anyone skimming over this post, $14,861/semester adds up to $118,888 over four years.

This kind of sky high prices necessarily deprives a large number of intelligent and brilliant people from ever getting a college education in USA. This directly has an impact on the economy in the long run. Instead of funding an expensive military, US fed govt should just pay for every ones college education and recover it over the entire working life of the person in small bits. Better to have high national debt in return for an extremely well educated population instead of a white elephant of a military.

Re: World's First Massive Online Degree Program Starts Today

#35

Post by mattmanser » Fri, Jan 17, 2014, 1:04 PM UTC

awjr wrote: post #30

navyrain wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Education, like most things in the US, is supported by debt. Tuition for a single semester at Georgia Tech, for an out of state student like myself, would run $14,861: http://www.bursar.gatech.edu/student/tuition/Spring_2014/Spr...

Also the debt cannot be gotten rid of by declaring yourself bankrupt. It is a 'federal' debt. Think the UK has sort of got this right. Your tuition fees are a debt (at very low interest rates) that you never have to pay off unless you start earning significant amounts of money. It's repaid as a percentage of your salary above a certain income level.

Hmm, "right" is a pretty contentious point here still given the still recent betrayal of the Lib Dems.

And 20 years ago it used to be completely free and you'd even be given money to go in the form of grants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universities_in_the_United_King...

Re: World's First Massive Online Degree Program Starts Today

#36

Post by bgilroy26 » Fri, Jan 17, 2014, 1:07 PM UTC

arethuza wrote: post #20

mmanfrin wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything that is near-socialized in other western industrialized countries is paradoxically more expensive here. 3 Years of law school is $150k, not counting actual cost of living. Schools run in the realm of $14k to $50k a year in tuition costs alone.

Out of interest, why can't you do law (or indeed medicine) as a first degree in the US?

On a mechanical level, a 4 year degree is an entrance requirement at med/law schools.

On a more practical level, the schools that are good enough to land you a job as a doctor/lawyer are all so competitive that a hole in your CV like not having a bachelor's degree when everyone else has one is a real disadvantage.

Re: World's First Massive Online Degree Program Starts Today

#37

Post by GFischer » Fri, Jan 17, 2014, 1:23 PM UTC

kriro wrote: post #22

Some dreaming on my part... I'm rooting for this to work out. If you can do it alongside a job they could very well "compete with nonconsumption" of sorts. This already exists on somewhat large scale in some countries. The biggest (by enrolment) university in Germany is a "Fernuniversität" Ultimately I hope these take off, prices go down (they become essentially free with payments for taking tests i.e. universities b…

I had to look up "Fernuniversität" (Google Translate says it's "distance university")

I guess you're referring to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FernUniversit%C3%A4t_Hagen

"a public research university focused on distance teaching"

Re: World's First Massive Online Degree Program Starts Today

#38

Post by mrfusion » Fri, Jan 17, 2014, 1:36 PM UTC

afshin wrote: post #32

atlantic wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be correct. In Portugal, university fees are around €1000 per annum. A private university costs around €5000. So by our standards, this is expensive. A second disadvantage is that American degrees are not automatically recognized here - you have to ask for an equivalence; and very likely an online degree would not be recognized, because it does not follow a traditional format in terms of course attendance…

and very likely an online degree would not be recognized The actual degree that will be granted for this particular program is simply "MS in Computer Science" from Georgia Tech. So it is not going to differentiated from the on-campus degree.

Yeah, but what happens when a job interviewer asks you about his favorite pizza place at Georgia Tech and you have to admit you have never been there :-(

Re: World's First Massive Online Degree Program Starts Today

#39

Post by arethuza » Fri, Jan 17, 2014, 1:41 PM UTC

bgilroy26 wrote: post #36

arethuza wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of interest, why can't you do law (or indeed medicine) as a first degree in the US?

On a mechanical level, a 4 year degree is an entrance requirement at med/law schools. On a more practical level, the schools that are good enough to land you a job as a doctor/lawyer are all so competitive that a hole in your CV like not having a bachelor's degree when everyone else has one is a real disadvantage.

"a 4 year degree is an entrance requirement at med/law schools"

Yes, I know that - but why have this requirement - as far as I know most other countries don't (certainly the UK doesn't).

Re: World's First Massive Online Degree Program Starts Today

#40

Post by awjr » Fri, Jan 17, 2014, 1:44 PM UTC

mattmanser wrote: post #35

awjr wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also the debt cannot be gotten rid of by declaring yourself bankrupt. It is a 'federal' debt. Think the UK has sort of got this right. Your tuition fees are a debt (at very low interest rates) that you never have to pay off unless you start earning significant amounts of money. It's repaid as a percentage of your salary above a certain income level.

Hmm, "right" is a pretty contentious point here still given the still recent betrayal of the Lib Dems. And 20 years ago it used to be completely free and you'd even be given money to go in the form of grants. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universities_in_the_United_King...

Not sure a political party can be relied on to do the right thing. It's the nature of politics.

20 years ago I could buy a house for a decent price. I started Uni in 1990 and that was the first year student loans were introduced. So you'd have to have graduated in 1989 (25 years ago) to not have been impacted by student loans.

What has changed is that the cost of going to University has now been transferred correctly to the student. I see nothing wrong in somebody choosing to go to University and I know many people of my era that just went to University because that is what you did. Now people try and evaluate if going to University is the correct career choice.

The important thing to remember is that this 'debt' is not an issue. You have to be financially 'successful' to even start to need to pay it off and the interest rate is currently at 1.5% (Commercial rates are around 6-9%) and is written off after 25 years, unlike the US student debt which is at commercial rates and you cannot escape.