from Hacker News

A Sign That Tuition Is Too High: Some Colleges Are Slashing It in Half

by champagnepapi on 12/19/22, 2:26 AM with 38 comments

• by FrontierPsych on 12/19/22, 7:49 AM

  I don't know why people even consider going to a private university. Public universities are subsidized by the public. In California, you can go to community college for 2 years and get general education out of the way - transfer them classes. It is free if parents make under $40Kper year, or about $2K per year in tuition if over that. And annual tuition at Cal State University is about $6-$7K per year. So basically, you can get a university degree in California for less than $20K. Not including room and board and books, of course. But those costs are the same anywhere, so it zeroes out. Tuition is the biggie.

• by LatteLazy on 12/19/22, 8:38 AM

  From the outside, the US university tuition system looks concerningly like the used car market. Questionable sales techniques, aimed at impressionable customers who don't understand exactly what they're getting (and think they're getting a lot more), very little price transparency, and easy credit acting as a force multiplier...

• by rayiner on 12/19/22, 3:22 AM

  What is the point of these non-elite colleges? Does it serve the public good for them to be eligible for federal student loans? Tuition at our local community college is $4,000 a year. The facilities and staff seem more than adequate for training people for routine jobs requiring more than a high school education. It seems like expensive cargo culting to send all these ordinary students to expensive universities that ape the blue blood trappings of Harvard and Yale. Maybe rich families whose kids can’t get into those schools should have something like this school as an option. But why divert public resources to support them?

• by etempleton on 12/19/22, 5:38 PM

  In most cases what colleges are doing here is changing their tuition model. Most private schools have a high discount rate now. This is a relatively new phenomenon where almost every student pays less than full tuition. The advantage for the school is they can not only be selective with who they admit, but award more money to the students that are most desired / highest need thus increasing the chances of those students attending.

  This model works pretty well except it isn’t very transparent until you apply and get a financial aid offer. This can lead to some people not even applying because they think they will never be able to afford it. So a one price for everyone regardless of talent/need is making a comeback.

• by toomuchtodo on 12/19/22, 3:04 AM

  https://archive.ph/suwej

• by zomg on 12/19/22, 8:16 PM

  whenever i see articles related to the high cost of tuition, i always take a moment to point out that this phenomena is largely government-driven, with the rest of the blame being societal.

  only until the government stops lending tuition money to anyone with a pulse will the true, economic cost of higher education come down. in order to do that, a politician will need to commit political suicide to propose such legislation, which will never happen.

  couple that with the "go to college and get a good job" mentality in the US and it's no surprise nearly all US high school students feel compelled to borrow a truck-load of money and go to college.

  why do we look down on the trades? i have friends who never went to college, learned a skill, and are making gobs of money (with no debt to service!).

• by gbronner on 12/19/22, 7:50 AM

  Perfect price discrimination raises the maximum amount of revenue, but tends to rub perlite the wrong way

• by M3L0NM4N on 12/19/22, 8:33 AM

  Drake?