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How to start a school with your friends

prigoose.substack.com

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Re: How to start a school with your friends

#21

Post by typewithrhythm »

yupitsme123 wrote: post #14

I always wondered why no one creates new universities in the US. It seems like in the 1800s every rich guy started their own university, many with unique missions. The existing university model in the US seems like it's ripe for disruption so I'm surprised no one has tried to create their own.

I'm guessing it's at least partially too high risk from a students perspective.

Much of the point of an established university is credentials, a new one cannot give the same recognition.

This means that to attract new students, and build a reputation, you have to have some other draw; either some world renowned experts, or cheap (even free or scholarships) tuition. Probably both.

And if you want your graduates to be outstanding, then you need to offer the best incoming candidates a reason to choose your school, because the truth is the school has less impact than the individual.

Re: How to start a school with your friends

#22

Post by 2arrs2ells »

typewithrhythm wrote: post #21
yupitsme123 wrote: post #14

I always wondered why no one creates new universities in the US. It seems like in the 1800s every rich guy started their own university, many with unique missions. The existing university model in the US seems like it's ripe for disruption so I'm surprised no one has tried to create their own.

I'm guessing it's at least partially too high risk from a students perspective. Much of the point of an established university is credentials, a new one cannot give the same recognition. This means that to attract new students, and build a reputation, you have to have some other draw; either some world renowned experts, or cheap (even free or scholarships) tuition. Probably both. And if you want your graduates to be…

You’re spot on. Bootstrapping a reputation is really hard (and expensive), and the very painful accreditation process makes it much harder (need students to get accredited, can’t offer degree to students without accreditation).

Two good colleges who’ve overcome the challenges recently are Olin (engineering school in Boston) and Minerva (globally distributed college).

Re: How to start a school with your friends

#23

Post by yupitsme123 »

typewithrhythm wrote: post #21
yupitsme123 wrote: post #14

I always wondered why no one creates new universities in the US. It seems like in the 1800s every rich guy started their own university, many with unique missions. The existing university model in the US seems like it's ripe for disruption so I'm surprised no one has tried to create their own.

I'm guessing it's at least partially too high risk from a students perspective. Much of the point of an established university is credentials, a new one cannot give the same recognition. This means that to attract new students, and build a reputation, you have to have some other draw; either some world renowned experts, or cheap (even free or scholarships) tuition. Probably both. And if you want your graduates to be…

These are the sorts of hurdles that a wealthy, powerful, amd/or famous person could overcome. If Buffett University or Gates University opened tomorrow you'd have people clamoring to support it and attend it.

As for a draw, the US jniversity system is so flawed at this point that it wouldn't be hard to come up with something better.

Re: How to start a school with your friends

#24

Post by monero-xmr »

yupitsme123 wrote: post #14

I always wondered why no one creates new universities in the US. It seems like in the 1800s every rich guy started their own university, many with unique missions. The existing university model in the US seems like it's ripe for disruption so I'm surprised no one has tried to create their own.

Good teachers are expensive, but on top of that, so are all the facilities. Being accredited is required for Pell Grants and student loans. Can’t be accredited without a lot of horse shit like fully staffed research libraries loaded with books no one will ever read. Yet another higher ed racket

Re: How to start a school with your friends

#25

Post by fallingknife »

yupitsme123 wrote: post #14

I always wondered why no one creates new universities in the US. It seems like in the 1800s every rich guy started their own university, many with unique missions. The existing university model in the US seems like it's ripe for disruption so I'm surprised no one has tried to create their own.

The university accreditation system is a cartel. You can't gain accreditation until you have already graduated students! So basically you have to find a group of students who are willing to risk studying at an unofficial university, then operate the university for several years before you can even apply for the stupid credential that allows you to issue degrees that anybody else recognizes. It clearly should be illegal, but like in so many other areas, the university system gets special treatment while continuing to suck up more and more resources for an ever diminishing return.

Re: How to start a school with your friends

#26

Post by fallingknife »

vector_spaces wrote: post #17
SteveNuts wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like all we’ve been able to do is churn out diploma mills with dubious (or outright fraudulent) accreditation.

Or predatory/misleading payment schemes, a la Lambda School

What is predatory and misleading about it? I just looked it up and it's 17% of your next two years income. Seems pretty simple to me.

Re: How to start a school with your friends

#27

Post by parpfish »

pcthrowaway wrote: post #12

I read "How to Live Near your Friends"[1] article linked from this article, and I can't help but be amused by the author's attitude of "my friends should all move near me because that's the way we can all live near friends" I mean they're not wrong, but also they could have made friends with their neighbours like the Stoop Coffee[2] author, or moved to be nearer to a friend group also. It's nice to see them really em…

The thing that stuck out to me was that they said there were 22 friends nearby.

I have no idea how you’d maintain relationships with that many people that would be strong enough to justify “I’ll uproot my living situation to be by this person”. Maybe they actually just have 22 acquaintances that like their roommate matchmaking and apartment hunting skills?

Re: How to start a school with your friends

#28

Post by parpfish »

maxverse wrote: post #3

The Recurse Center[1] folks (also YC) started an un-school with friends! [1] http://recurse.com/

I’ve been intrigued by recurse for a long time because the alums I’ve met are all very impressive.

But when I think about applying, I worry that it’s just tapping into my addiction to external validation and credential-seeking rather than just learning something on my own.

Or… that’s what I tell myself because I’m not nearly as bright as the recursers I’ve met

Re: How to start a school with your friends

#29

Post by 0xDEAFBEAD »

yupitsme123 wrote: post #14

I always wondered why no one creates new universities in the US. It seems like in the 1800s every rich guy started their own university, many with unique missions. The existing university model in the US seems like it's ripe for disruption so I'm surprised no one has tried to create their own.

Here are a couple of recently formed, Silicon Valley adjacent universities:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minerva_University

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Austin

Re: How to start a school with your friends

#30

Post by The_Amp_Walrus »

CrazyStat wrote: post #15
jbellis wrote: post #9

Love to see it! Wonder how to reconcile the description of almost-negligible admin overhead with this description of a similar effort that warns, "We wanted to keep costs extremely low, so we had parent volunteers do all admin for the school. It's going really well, but it's an insane amount of work." From my experience both teaching kids and organizing things, that seems like a much more likely outcome. https://x.co…

FractalU isn't a school. It doesn't need to keep records, comply with miles of state regulations (employee and volunteer background checks, record keeping, mandatory exams, ...). It doesn't need to be able to demonstrate to other schools (or universities) what the students achieved. It doesn't need to demonstrate to the state that it's actually teaching the students something. It doesn't handle any money, so it doesn…

a school is an institution that teaches people

your definition of "actually a school" seems to arbitrarily include a lot of reporting and paperwork and commerce that have nothing to do with the bit where you teach people stuff

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