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Comment by potatolicious | Hacker News Reader

> "Part of the debt problem has been the dearth of students going into high demand majors (mostly STEM)."

STEM degrees are expensive - considerably moreso than, say, English degrees. This is especially true for professional degrees like engineering.

So yeah, your odds of employment out of school are much better than the English major, but your debt load has increased significantly as well. Getting a STEM degree can mitigate the effects of our ludicrously overpriced education system (i.e., you've got a shitload of debt, but at least you're chipping away at it, as opposed to not making your payments at all), it does not avoid it.

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The tuition is exactly the same at the state schools I'm familiar with. Books were more expensive but were a small fraction of the tuition costs.

Simon Fraser University (Canada) charges more for engineering and cs courses.

http://students.sfu.ca/calendar/for_students/undergrad_tuiti...

And you actually pay cheaper per hour, because full-time tuition is invariably flat rate, but STEM majors (especially engineering) tend to have higher than normal credit hours per semester.

UIUC charges more in tuition for students that are in technical majors.

This is not the case with all state schools. Mine, for example, was contrary to that. Different colleges in the University had different tuition. Obviously Art, Theater, Music, and Engineering have different costs -- why should they all pay flat rates?

On top of that, majoring in something technical will also likely require more fees -- lab fees, computer fees, etc.

Oh, and your book costs will be higher. Textbook prices have tripled in the last ten years, so now an English Major is paying what I paid for Computer Engineering back in 2000.

One option with engineering degrees is to do a co-op. My brother did this (at Va Tech) and not only got out with minimal debt but also left with a job at the company he co-oped for. This seems pretty common at Va Tech as other family members and friends have done it. I don't know how common it is elsewhere, but if it's not a common practice it sure should be.

We have a very successful co-op program here at NC State. (I plan to go for one starting sometime next academic year.) There are also a lot of internships available, and we have a huge engineering career fair every semester with loads of companies from all engineering disciplines.

Incidentally, there are very few engineers in NC State's contingent of occupiers.

Most schools charge the same regardless of major. At my university (private) full time was 15 credits (3 credits per class). As an engineering major, I shouldered a 21 credit per semester course load for all 4 years. Payed the exact same. So yes much cheaper for an engineering major. Add in the factor of real world skills and it's a downright bargain.

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