Comments for sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/is-college-worth-it

Comment #2915

2013-07-11T10:25:09Z

I wonder if in some places it becomes a community effort. If there were all those who voluntarily translated the course into other languages, I would imagine there would also be volunteer tutors. Of course, that might be the blind leading the blind, and certainly anyone would choose to ask a Ph.D. who's known for being willing and able to help people understand math, if one is available. But I would think a group of students working together -- with a cooperative attitude and plenty of time -- could make good progress as well. I'm thinking of the students who wrote the books in the Who Is Fourier? series, who seemed to have accomplished a lot as a group. (Note: this is not an endorsement of group work in a school setting, for which I know only negative examples.)

Comment #2914

2013-07-11T04:56:39Z

That's quite interesting, indeed. I imagine not everyone needs such help, but probably most do.

Comment #2913

2013-07-10T03:27:14Z

On community college courses - don't take anything that will be a prerequisite for a curse at another school. You won't be prepared. At least in NYS, where the 4-year SUNY's are required to accept the community college credits, even if they know the courses aren't really equivalent.

On Udacity and its relatives - the assumption being pushed by Thrun, et al, is that they are teaching all of these students the material. They don't talk about the fact that their audience finds local people like me to help them. I end up doing a lot of work whenever one of my students does one of these courses.

Comment #2912

2013-07-04T14:19:01Z

That sounds like a story waiting to be told. The Swiss school had higher standards, but didn't inspire you to do your homework, whereas the American school was easier but got you working. Frankly, if you can meet high standards without doing homework, EPL sounds like the better deal to me.

Comment #2911

2013-07-03T21:04:07Z

Interesting - and considering I paid no tuition for my year at Virginia Tech (only the Swiss tuition), it was extra good value for me. Though I'll say our university had higher standards of performance, the US approach finally got me to do homework.

Comment #2910

2013-07-03T11:57:12Z

I'm bringing the book with me....

The sad thing is that both Colby and Oberlin make the list of "most overvalued" colleges. (Barnard is #1.) At least one person reading this will be pleased to know that Virginia Tech is #3 on the "best value" list. The authors do acknowledge that there are other valid reasons for choosing a particular college than cost vs. earnings potential: "Families with more resources at their disposal (or students with a greater willingness to take higher amounts of debt) may have few qualms paying high out-of-pocket costs fro luxuries like Barnard's Manhattan locale, Oberlin College's idiosyncratic creative community, or the Florida sun of Rollins College."

Comment #2909

2013-07-03T11:44:55Z

I think it is closer to "on someone else's $200,000(+)." At least that is the case for the colleges we went to and that our nephews are now attending.

Comment #2908

2013-07-03T10:53:40Z

I hope this unbeatable deal will stay around for a while. I'm shocked that more U.S. high school counsellors apparently don't know about this.

Comment #2907

2013-07-03T06:16:24Z

And for less than the cost of one semester in UCF's luxury dorms, you can buy airfare for studying in Europe and coming home for Christmas. At the moment, many countries still have very low tuition, if you're willing to speak another language - and education in itself. Then you can travel Europe on the weekends and still end up with less debt than going to a US college . . .