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Comment by baxtr | Hacker News Reader

I vividly remember when I was handed my tuition statement at a US college. All the courses added up to a absurd number for a single semester. As an European exchange student an additional line, where this absurd number was waived saved my ass. But still, I remember how shocked I was back then. I thought: How can all my class mates afford that rate for several semesters?

I think it is totally absurd that one of the most advanced nations on this planet is putting such a high tax on higher education. Education in general is so crucial for a developed country like the US that I believe it should be free (at least almost free).

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It's fine, we just import educated Europeans and let their countrymen pay for it.

Most higher education is superfluous.

People in Europe end up paying for the education, you just don't see it on an itemized statement. What if you add up the 2-3% of your wages across your entire lifetime?

Another thing to point out is that many colleges offer grants, scholarships, and work study such that the sticker price often isn't what gets paid.

An important part of making education free or nearly free is not the total cost born by society, but the change in incentive. If we all pay for university whether we go or not, it is more likely that we'll decide it is worthwhile to pursue an education.

This does also change how education works. In Germany, I'm told, you can't expect students to have done assigned readings. And an exchange student from Poland told me that his fellow students would typically show up for the midterms and finals only.

Though I have never taught in Germany, I can assure you that plenty of non-German students, even ones paying full freight at expensive US schools, have also not done the reading.

But in my experience, we try and pretend that we did the reading, and not complain to the overseas teacher that it was unreasonable to expect classroom discussion time to hinge upon having done the readings.

an exchange student from Poland told me that his fellow students would typically show up for the midterms and finals only

This, friend, is precisely how it ought to be. The University is a guild and administers examinations. If you pass you are admitted to the guild. Just how you pass, that's up to you, but initiative is required. We won't wipe your ass or run you through the book, one chapter per lecture. That's part of the informal training.

For almost everyone real guild isn’t entered via exam. The college degree is just a day pas to get your foot in the door somewhere. After that it’s performance that dictates whether you get to stay and whether you get promoted.

The college degree is just a day pas to get your foot in the door somewhere

No, in my experience it's that the undergraduate degree serves to get admission to a professional degree (MD, nursing, whateverelse the medical school here in town offers) that has next to nothing to do with what the first degree was about. Consequently, GPA is more important than knowledge, and with curved exams you see an unnatural hypercompetitiveness.

it’s performance that dictates whether you get to stay and whether you get promoted

It's more adeptness at office politics, but I'm a cynic and the institution is weak.

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