Comment by kpw94 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kpw94 | Hacker News Reader

Whether IIT are "that smart" or not like 1differential's comment talks about is irrelevant.

IIT have prestige. If they care about leveraging that prestige and incentivize their graduates to some lifestyle choices there's ways to do it.

One example is the elite French "école polytechnique" (think the #1 IIT equivalent in engineering): tuition is waived, you even get paid a stipend as a student... But if you don't serve in French public service for 10 years after graduation, you have to repay it.

https://programmes.polytechnique.edu/en/ingenieur-polytechni...

> There are no study costs for French students, on the condition that they work for the civil service for at least 10 years within the 20 years following their graduation. Otherwise, they must repay the tuition fees

That would work as a "brain drain" tax.

Without addressing the actual money involved this will be not complete:

> EU students: €19,000 for 3 years

> Year 1: €3,500

> Year 2: €7,750

> Year 3: €7,750

Repaying such amount is not a very big deal

You took the wrong column (the amount to be repaid is €31,000) but your point remains valid.

(Moreover, it is often paid by the employer who wants to recruit a student just after graduation.)

The source I posted has the exact amounts

> As of today, the total amount to be repaid is set at

> €21,000 for students who have chosen to join a government body for Year 4

> €31,000 for students who have not chosen to join a government body for Year 4

Such amount is not as insignificant in a country with high taxes and where peers in university have like $100/year tuition, it's not super high either (maybe 4-6 months of after tax salary for an entry level position)

But I didn't bother posting is as i think it's not relevant. IIT could set that amount at 1 rupee, or 1 lakh, or 1 crore. There's a threshold where this switches from "that's fair you're repaying tuition" to "oh now you're adding a steep penalty"

It's complex to set the right value: too high and you're forcing your graduates to choose a high paying job or a government job, but you're killing their chances of startup creation. Too low and IIT is leaving money on the table.

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