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Comment by rizzaxc | Hacker News Reader

to me, universities havve to be very very cheap to be worth it, since most of bachelor level knowledge is now free on the internet. universities will still have value as children's first serious research institution, and personally I see that as a very good reason to send my future kids there. if they dont like it, no problem the financial hit should be minor; not to mention they will get to grow as a person in a somewhat professional setting.

universities can't keep charing exorbitant fees to give out a piece of irrelevant paper

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> universities can't keep charing exorbitant fees to give out a piece of irrelevant paper

You've completely misunderstood the point of university and the piece of paper. The reasons to go to University ranked:

1. To signal to employers that you are the type of person who can solve difficult challenges with minimal oversight

2. To build your network

3. To learn

4. Social events

The piece of paper is far from irrelevant, it's your signal to employers that you're a successful person. MOOCs and bootcamps can't replace that. Employers don't like apprenticeships because once they're over the employees leave for greener pastures. Even if they confirm you're self trained via leetcode or whatever they still can't be sure that you're able to do the other stuff that a job entails.

The problem is that there are a lot more "successful people" with a degree nowadays, but not that much more demand. Thus the value of nearly all degrees is lower now than decades ago. Only ones with difficult entry (like medicine) really hold their value. Even CS degree is fairly useless without hobby projects or working experience.

Many university programs exist simply to make money, or in European publicly funded institutions because of arbitrary government targets for raising education level in general population. Nothing to do with actual demand or applicable skills in workforce.

> Many university programs exist simply to make money

Absolutely agree, but that doesn't change the fact that employers demand diplomas. It's exceedingly difficult to break into a white collar industry without one. Employers largely don't care about what universities teach, or why they exist, they just want to be sure that the candidate has experience overcoming adversity.

> You've completely misunderstood the point of university and the piece of paper

no I didn't. I have a degree and a nice job; my point was more and more will reject university because that'd do nothing for them - they wouldn't get hired just because they've done their degree, or they can't bear the cost. universities do provide a good environment as you (and me) pointed out, but I don't think that is acceptable for most people with the price tag currently going in the US

> universities havve to be very very cheap to be worth it, since most of bachelor level knowledge is now free on the internet

Gaining knowledge is not the point of going to university. Getting the diploma is. Sure, having the diploma doesn't automatically mean you'll get a job, but not having a diploma does pretty much mean you'll automatically not get certain jobs.

> irrelevant paper

Their only purpose is authoritarian filtering.

Will this applicant unquestioningly jump thru arbitrary crazy and irrelevant hoops with no talking back about about the local dogma and complete subservience to their masters opinions? Do they owe a lot of school loans so they'll unquestioningly do anything for money? In some bad corporate environments, that is strongly desired for the individual contributors.

> since most of bachelor level knowledge is now free on the internet.

Most of the knowledge is out there sure, but the knowledge is hardly what’s important here.

Most well-paid white collar professions still require that credentials (and even poorly laid white-collar professions on that note)

I could spend a lifetime reading about engineering and following program curriculum to a point, but it’s unlikely I’d ever be hired in most engineering fields.

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