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The $6,600 Master's Degree.

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Re: The $6,600 Master's Degree.

#71

Post by zanny »

marquis wrote: post #16
bayesianhorse wrote: post #4

I'm in favor of furthering online education, moocs, educational content in general and even certification programs along these lines. But I also have to ask: If this degree costs 20% of a traditional Master's education, is it even worth 20% as much? The degree clearly states "Online Master". We might see a value developing here, but there is an equal chance that the early students get ripped off big time. They might…

While I agree, in that attending college is in part the social experience in interacting with peers, one-on-one time with lecturers/TAs and lab work, this is a step forward to allowing anyone who wants to learn have that opportunity, and use the technology we have to improve on that technology so future-learning just gets better and better. Tiny steps. An enterprising person may well setup a facilitator experience, w…

This hits on what I think is key to breaking out of the borked education system. You need to put like minded learners together with bountiful educational texts and resources to solve the problems both independently and together.

It is less about stuffing random facts in the brain than developing group oriented problem solving skills in a specialized discipline.

Re: The $6,600 Master's Degree.

#72

Post by trhtrsh »

abraham_s wrote: post #68
legulere wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know in which countries it's this way? The information I found about Germany I found says that they also don't have to pay tuition fees. I guess most countries don't need extra fees for foreigners because of the language barrier.

Even universities in USA has two tuition rates, the in-state tuition being 1/3 of the "normal" rate, but non-citizens can also avail the in-state tuition if they have residency.

These days, closer to 1/2.

Re: The $6,600 Master's Degree.

#73

Post by aptwebapps »

mtgx wrote: post #19
jval wrote: post #12

This is completely right. Most of the commenters here keep thinking about it from the perspective of people in countries that already have great access to education, but disruption begins with people who don't already have access to a product or are struggling to afford the existing alternatives. In the case of education, these people are most likely to reside in the developing world - there are billions of people in…

I agree with your general theory, but I don't think $6,600 is "reasonable" for a college degree in BRIC nations. I think even in the more developed countries in Europe that's at the high-end of what it costs to get one. It only seems reasonable for an American, who usually pays what - $100,000-$200,000? $2,000 is what I'd call "reasonable", although if we're really thinking about truly revolutionizing education for t…

Totally random Googling led me to this: http://www.masterstudies.com/M.-Tech.-(Robotics-Engineering)...

which costs about 4655 USD

Re: The $6,600 Master's Degree.

#74

Post by barry-cotter »

codeonfire wrote: post #70
gambiting wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by unlimited access? Sure, there is only a limited amount of university places, but it does not matter what is your social situation or how much money you currently have - you can study law or medicine just the same as a rich guy, as long as you have good grades that allow you to get into the university in the first place. But if you did study hard and got good grades, any degree you could choose is…

By unlimited access I mean discrimination. Two key tools used to hide discrimination are extra-curriculars and subjective entrance interviews, both of which can be present in totally free schools.

In Ireland for well over 90% of degree courses it's blind marked exams all the way. In Britain apart from Oxbridge it is again exam marks all the way (big apart from). In France I think ENA is the only school with entrance exams/interviews but much like Oxbridge acceptance means you are part of the ruling/upper class unless you choose to throw it away. German universities don't do entrance interviews, they do exam ranking and brutal weedout classes.

The USA is more or less unique in the blatancy of the class values implicit in its university entrance requirements. The cancer spreads, much like professional graduate degrees but it is still most obvious in the land of origin. Gotta keep them Jews out, or nowadays them Asians. It's about the right sort of extracurricular, don't you know?

Re: The $6,600 Master's Degree.

#75

Post by [deleted] »

codeonfire wrote: post #70
gambiting wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by unlimited access? Sure, there is only a limited amount of university places, but it does not matter what is your social situation or how much money you currently have - you can study law or medicine just the same as a rich guy, as long as you have good grades that allow you to get into the university in the first place. But if you did study hard and got good grades, any degree you could choose is…

By unlimited access I mean discrimination. Two key tools used to hide discrimination are extra-curriculars and subjective entrance interviews, both of which can be present in totally free schools.

[deleted]

Re: The $6,600 Master's Degree.

#76

Post by p4bl0 »

melvinmt wrote: post #53
p4bl0 wrote: post #17

As a French person my first reaction to the title was "that's awfully expensive!". Then I thought about the US education system and thought "Oh, the title must actually imply that it's cheap…". I still had to go read the article to make sure. And then I learned that it's actually an online master. So my (second) first reaction was that it's cool to be able to get a master's degree from a top university from almost an…

You have to realize that European college education is heavily subsidized for their citizens. If a student from a developing country comes to Europe to study, they'll have to pay the full prize, which often comes down to €10,000+/year.

You're wrong. At least in France, education is free (well, almost, we have something like 200€ / year of administrative fees), for foreigners too. Depending on which school/uni you enter, you might even get a stipend and/or a room.

Re: The $6,600 Master's Degree.

#77

Post by jgross206 »

zanny wrote: post #69
tephra wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can only speak for how it is in Sweden. We used to have free university education for anyone in the world. But that's now changed so that anyone not in the EU, European Economic Area or Switzerland have to pay tuition. A three year Bachelor program would cost about 63000 USD for anyone not in those countries that are part of the above organizations.

My bill at my school in the US was 57,000 USD a semester . Albeit I didn't actually pay any of that (besides the required stafford loans).

what school was that??

Re: The $6,600 Master's Degree.

#78

Post by guiambros »

mtgx wrote: post #19
jval wrote: post #12

This is completely right. Most of the commenters here keep thinking about it from the perspective of people in countries that already have great access to education, but disruption begins with people who don't already have access to a product or are struggling to afford the existing alternatives. In the case of education, these people are most likely to reside in the developing world - there are billions of people in…

I agree with your general theory, but I don't think $6,600 is "reasonable" for a college degree in BRIC nations. I think even in the more developed countries in Europe that's at the high-end of what it costs to get one. It only seems reasonable for an American, who usually pays what - $100,000-$200,000? $2,000 is what I'd call "reasonable", although if we're really thinking about truly revolutionizing education for t…

As someone from one of the BRIC countries (now living in the US for the past decade), I can tell you that $6,600 would be a ridiculously affordable option for tens of thousands of students in these markets.

Brazil, in particular, has the exact opposite model of the US. Public undergrad schools are generally weak (with very few exceptions). If your parents can't afford to send you to a private high school, you'll probably have a tough time ranking well on the top public universities (which are not only free, but normally ranked lot better).

Not surprisingly, some public universities receive 10-20x more candidates/spot than other private options.

MOOC and initiatives like this pilot from Georgia Tech have the potential to change this picture radically in the next 10-15 years.

Instead of spending $100,000+ for a second class degree, some students will opt to spend a fraction of this, for a top tier US school. And you could use the difference to complement your education in other different ways - in-person courses, unpaid internships abroad, trips, etc.

Probably still not the same as going in-person to a top university school, but still revolutionary. The goal shouldn't be to send everybody to the best universities in the world (which is an impossible and unrealistic goal), but to give the best education that each person can have.

Re: The $6,600 Master's Degree.

#79

Post by gambiting »

codeonfire wrote: post #70
gambiting wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by unlimited access? Sure, there is only a limited amount of university places, but it does not matter what is your social situation or how much money you currently have - you can study law or medicine just the same as a rich guy, as long as you have good grades that allow you to get into the university in the first place. But if you did study hard and got good grades, any degree you could choose is…

By unlimited access I mean discrimination. Two key tools used to hide discrimination are extra-curriculars and subjective entrance interviews, both of which can be present in totally free schools.

They are not present in my country. All that matters is just your grades from the Matura exams(think English GCSE exams). It does not matter if you were a golden medalist seven times or ran your own company by the age of 14. On top of that, the Head of the university normally can assign an additional 4 places per year as he/she wishes, so they usually go to people who are talented,but happened to get bad grades in their exams, for any reasons. This is the only moment when your personal circumstances can have any effect on your place at university. Other than that, it does not matter whatever you are rich,poor, white or black - if you got good grades, you will get a place.

Re: The $6,600 Master's Degree.

#80

Post by zanny »

jgross206 wrote: post #77
zanny wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My bill at my school in the US was 57,000 USD a semester . Albeit I didn't actually pay any of that (besides the required stafford loans).

what school was that??

Tiny liberal arts college in PA called Moravian. I think they broke 60k this year, I graduated a year ago now.

Albeit, that factors in the 2k and 8k per semester for food / housing (and the school requires you live on campus if your home is >20 miles away, and you can't get an apartment off) and you have to take that meal plan.

It is like $12k in classes per semester, plus the room / board, and a bunch of other line item expenses that add up.

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