Why are tuition fees so high in the US and UK compared to other countries?

[chound]

Why are the tuition fees in colleges so high in US, UK? (>$20000)
The people at education fairs tell me that you can work part time and pay a substantial part. I can't believe that by working part time I can pay my tuition while my full time working father cant. Can you really pay the tuition by working part time?

Btw, I'm from India. In JIPMER (one of the leading medical colleges in India) the yearly tuition fees is Rs250. ($5 approx) per year.

 

[mr_coffee]

I suggest getting as many scholarships/grants as possible, I got so many that they started dedcuting money from me saying I got too many scholarships and grants, bastards, oh well I get a refund check every semester for like $2,000 after all of tution is paid for/books.

But I agree the price is increasing very fast. I don't see working part time being enough money to pay your debt if you still have to deal with housing, like food/rent/gas,etc

 

[Astronuc]

Universities are businesses and they like to make money - or perhaps the administrators like to make money to cover large salaries.

The cost of providing education has increased and is increasing.

Scholarship, grants and waiver of fees are possible mechanisms to reduce the cost to the student. I would also encourage people to work as a means of professional development.

Some colleges and universities (state and city) are less expensive than private schools, but those state and city colleges usually charge higher fees to non-residents.

 

[CPL.Luke]

20,000 is nothing compared to some schools in the US, I believe that Uchicago costs around 45 now, and NYU costs 50 including room and board. I believe reed college costs 50 without room and board.

 

[robphy]

Some interesting reading (I may get around to reading someday):
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Nov06/tuition.so.much.sl.html
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=4958&sequence=0

 

[mr_coffee]

wow 50k, I'm glad Penn State is in PA, going out of state makes it so much worse for fin. aid.

whats so great about NYU or is it so high because the cost of living?

 

[Atomos]

A a lot of it must do with universities not being subsidized in the states. In Canada, university tuition never costs more than $3000 for Canadian citizens.

 

[SticksandStones]

A a lot of it must do with universities not being subsidized in the states. In Canada, university tuition never costs more than $3000 for Canadian citizens.

Are those figures in CAD or USD? Do they include room&board?

Either way, I'm jealous.

 

[Azael]

take a look at european universities, many are without any fee at all.

All swedish universities are totaly free to attend and rank very highly among european universities.

 

[scorpa]

Are those figures in CAD or USD? Do they include room&board?

Either way, I'm jealous.

I pay a little over 5000 CDN for tuition, and no it doesn't include any room/board/food/books...ect. It works out to 500 bucks/class.

 

[CPL.Luke]

NYU is a very good school, and it costs a lot to get and keep the land their on in the city, but the main thing that's driving up their tuition fees is that a lot of people want to go there for the city life, and s they are trying to buy up a lot of buildings to make room.

bu when my sister started going there 3 years ago they cost around 30k per year, with around 5k for room and board.

so its up 15k in 3 years, and that's a troubling trend happening all over the country.

 

[Ascetic Anchorite]

£3,000 is what I am supposed to pay for each year at my UK university. I have not paid it yet as I am disgusted with the poor standards of the university. I will wait until they are about to throw me out before I pay. I say before ‘I’ pay, the government will actually pay via a loan. The loan is supposed to be paid back after I am earning above a certain amount, but that is not going to happen!

Tony Blair did not have to pay for his education, and neither did my sister, so why should I? There is plenty of money to pay for me. One less cruise missile would pay for nearly 100 students for a year.

 

[SeReNiTy]

It cost me $6000 AUD a year to study, 5 course a semester. Next year when i go to berkeley this value has gone way way up.

 

[Dmitri]

A a lot of it must do with universities not being subsidized in the states. In Canada, university tuition never costs more than $3000 for Canadian citizens.

I don't know where you got this information but I pay 8.3k just for tuition and some of my friends who study commerce pay 10k.

 

[^_^physicist]

I believe Reed College costs 50 without room and board.

Reed College is closer to 34,000 per year (and I believe that is including the room, but not board).

However, the cost of living near Reed is moderatly low, so long as you don't actually go into the downtown portion of the City it is located in.

However, Reed isn't so bad if you are consistering out of state costs for similar education at the public universities in Oregon and Washington (state).

----
Just wanted to throw that one in.
---

As for my advice concerning prices: Loans and a Side job (such as being a tutor) and college is affordible, but when you get done with schooling the price tag (I am still trying to wrap my head around my own price tag) is horrible.

Tutoring though...yeah that is some decent cash.

 

[CPL.Luke]

hmm your right

I remember I saw that statistic a while ago hmm

 

[imabug]

it all has to do with how much governments are willing to fund higher education. The more a government throws in for higher ed, the less the university has to charge in tuition. Europeans have a much stronger tradition of more fully funding higher ed. Same with Canada, although to a lesser degree. In the US, not so much, which is why most students graduate with a 5 or 6 figure debt load.

 

[Atomos]

I don't know where you got this information

From the financial brochures of most any major university in Canada. However, I am to understand certain majors have tuition fees above and beyond the ~$3000.

 

[Ki Man]

theres always finaid. usually the more expensive ones have the most scholarship programs. most bookstores have books filled with scholarships.

 

[scorpa]

From the financial brochures of most any major university in Canada. However, I am to understand certain majors have tuition fees above and beyond the ~$3000.

The only places I have seen with a 3000 tuition is a technical school or community college. Any university is going to be at least 5000 which is what I pay, and I believe Alberta universities are among the cheaper ones. I know there is one university (a private one) where tuition is like 15 000.

 

[Atomos]

The only places I have seen with a 3000 tuition is a technical school or community college. Any university is going to be at least 5000 which is what I pay, and I believe Alberta universities are among the cheaper ones. I know there is one university (a private one) where tuition is like 15 000.

Upon further research it would appear it is closer to $5000. My apologies. But it is still a heck of a lot better than prices are in the US :tongue:

 

[backdoorstudent]

Why are the tuition fees in colleges so high in US, UK? (>$20000)

They're conspiring with banks to get you into eternal debt.

 

[DieCommie]

Wow, I am lucky. Here at Arizona State University it costs roughly $5000 a year. But, I get all that paid for by generous rich people. (thx!)

 

[ranger]

Ha! I pay under $5000 a year for a four year engineering program. There are great schools with low tuitions, but they kill you without of state tuition fees. I applied to FAU, got accepted, but they where charging me $30,000+ per year. If I was in state, it would have been a mere $6000 per year.

 

[jtbell]

Wow, I am lucky. Here at Arizona State University it costs roughly $5000 a year. But, I get all that paid for by generous rich people. (thx!)

That sounds like in-state tuition for students from Arizona, in which case you're being subsidized by the taxpayers of Arizona, not all of whom are rich. Students from out of state probably have to pay a lot more.

 

[^_^physicist]

Speaking as an out-of-state student: tution is a killer. In fact tution for an out of state student to many universities on the west coast (at least when I was looking) was comparible to going to a private university instead. However, there is always WUE (Western Undergraduate Exchange), which saves me a huge amount of money, and doesn't have much of a requirement to get in.

If you live in the "West" and you are a high school student thinking of going out of state, but still staying in the west you might want to look at this website:
http://wue.wiche.edu/"

Note you have to look around to see if it will actually help you though, plus WUE admission is only 150% tution rate. Which is nice compared to out of state. Just think of it this way as instate+50% of instate= WUE (in general, some schools are a little bit different, from what I have been told).

 

[JSBeckton]

wow 50k, I'm glad Penn State is in PA, going out of state makes it so much worse for fin. aid.

whats so great about NYU or is it so high because the cost of living?

Penn State is the most expensive public school in the country. About $14,000 per year compared to about $3,000 for Florida or Florida State.

 

[neurocomp2003]

all students should just be bums for one year(or go work parttime) ...would be funny if that really happened. What would schools do.

 

[complexPHILOSOPHY]

I moved from Virginia a couple days after I graduated High School to San Diego so that I could attend either UCSD or UCLA (and because I was kicked out of my house pretty much every day through four years of high school). To avoid paying out-of-state tuition, I worked full-time for a year and established my residency. Now, I am considered a resident and the tuition is significantly cheaper. The only downside was that I was unable to afford tuition to a four year program, so I opted for two years at a community college and then transfer into a UC school for my major.

For instance, out-of-state tuition at a San Diego Community College is $168 per credit (approximately), whereas if you are considered a resident, each credit only costs $26. I am not sure what the UCSD figures are, but IIRC it was something like 3x more for an out-of-state student than a resident.

I will hopefully save a lot more money on tuition and hopefully still receive the same education. I also work part-time at a law firm doing word processing to pay my rent, food and bills and receive around 2,000 per semester in financial aid and scholarships (very small ones). You will definitely have to work part-time if you want to live in California, unless you want to pay back A LOT of money. My girlfriend and I pay $775 per month to rent out a small studio apartment with a small kitchen and bathroom.

I can't comment about the other states, only California.

 

[Dracovich]

US schools are expensive because they are private run for the most part. The only reason schools are "free" is because they have ridiculous taxes and tolls on various things.

I go to school in Denmark, school is free there, and every student (not living at home) gets about 700$ a month as a grant from the government. This is of course awesome, but at the same time you're paying about 40% income tax, 25% sales tax, and various extra taxes on luxury items, depending on what your socialist government wants to control. Not to mention that gas is about 4x the price as in US because of government taxes.

Nothing is free, it's just paid for somewhere else.

 

[moose]

Through some standardized test we have in Arizona (AIMS test), my tuition will be waived for 4 years if I decide to attend the University of Arizona. UA has already offered me 6 thousand a year, which would be enough to pay for my dorm and meal plan or books. I've been working more than 30 hours a week (usually about 36) since Thanksgiving. At the rate I am saving my money, I will have around 7 thousand saved up by start of the semester next year. That's more than enough for miscellaneous living expenses...

 

[mr_coffee]

Penn State is the most expensive public school in the country. About $14,000 per year compared to about $3,000 for Florida or Florida State.

Its all free to me so i'll go as long as possible!
less real world living the better

Its only $3,000 with room and board and tuition?
shiza, my book are more than that hah j/k
.

 

[robphy]

If you are interested in Art, Architecture, or Engineering and want to be in NYC, you might want to look into http://www.cooper.edu/administration/about/Welcome.html
While the tuition is very low, the cost-of-living probably won't be.