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Comment by FrameworkFred | Hacker News Reader

steep, but not altogether unlike college. read your contracts folks.

Did you read the article? The problem is not just the fee (insanely high for a bootcamp), but that graduates are hired out to companies and paid rates that sound much lower than market rates, which most likely they are charging the companies a higher rate for. And if they refuse they have to pay the fee.

Your college owns you for 2-3 years after graduation and can hire you out and decide where you live and work and at what rate?

Sounds a lot like indentured servitude.

I'm not saying "go sign up with Revature" but I am saying that a whole lot of folks go to college and end up with a crap ton of debt which they end up working for years to pay off.

AND...a large chunk of those folks walk away with unmarketable skills.

AND...you can't declare bankruptcy to get out from under student loans.

...which IMO sounds kinda worse than indentured servitude in that, while you do still have to pay, the mechanism for payment is neither provided in the construct nor is it made possible by the training received.

s/a lot/exactly/

$36.5k for a 2-month online program is like what college? That's what it would cost you if you got a better offer than their internal roles.

That comes out to about 1.2 million for a 4 year degree. Sounds about right.

Carnegie Mellon costs 77k/year for a bachelor's degree. If that adds up to 1.2 million for you, you should probably check your math.

The above comment is sarcasm. Somehow going over people’s heads so downvotes.

Basically, sarcasm rarely seems to work on this site, and I am ambivalent about whether this is a good thing.

Could you break down that number?

I went to a state school for 6 years and my total (living + textbooks + food + tuition) cost is nowhere near that number.

I believe they're saying that if you were to do that bootcamp for 4 years it would work out to ~1M, i.e. ridiculously more than any college.

I think it'd be 876,000 (36.5K * 6 * 4), but that's beside the point.

Oh okay, I misunderstood and thought they meant precisely the opposite. Thanks!

I figured 36.5k * 8 * 4 = 1.168m

How is this in any way like college? I agree that people should read the contracts, but if I quit college, I'm not on the hook for anything more than I've already paid. And you know what you're getting into when you get a loan, so I fail to see how this $36K quitting fee is like college...

Well, with college you don’t get paid at all for around 4 years of your time, and then graduate in debt or having paid for instruction.

Compare that to this case where you basically commit 2 years of time and emerge debt free, and presumably with real work experience.

I’m not advocating for this sort of system, it creeps me out.

What I am saying though, is that college can be a dicey value if you can’t figure out how to translate it to the job market, if that’s your objective.

We would probably be better off if there was a really good system for apprenticeships that was a win win for employers and employees.

Most grads basically have to be mentored for years to be effective, in my experience. It makes it hard on companies looking to hire, because they have to invest so much in someone who can just leave. And hard for the job-seeker, as they are in a difficult position because they may not be able to offer a lot of value, so may not be able to get a job.

For people with top tier degrees, or who are very motivated self starters, none of this matters. But what about everyone else?

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