You are being incredibly nice and understanding, and you shouldn't be. $60k for an online class is just plain robbery. I'm sick and tired of this bullshit that higher education has been ramming down our collective throats courtesy of a system in which easily available, seemingly infinite credit on the part of the students allows colleges to continuously seek out new revenue by burdening students with ever increasing debt.
Its funny to me that state schools, including Berkeley, used to have reasonable tuition up until the early 1980's, until the baby boomer voters in each respective state demanded lower taxes and the politicians obliged by cutting state tuition assistance year after year. When the state paid 90% of a student's tuition, the colleges didn't have the option of constantly jacking their price up. Suddenly, when it was student debt paying the bills, the colleges stopped doing anything to cut the bloat.
Thank you Berkeley for again reminding me what a scam the academic institutions have become.
I agree. I desperately want to go back to school (didn't attend college in my youth, and feel I am hitting the limits of self-education), but I'm not willing to put half the value of a house on a 4 year program.
a) My house is a 10 minute bus ride from UC Berkeley, b) I am plenty familiar with house prices and down payments as it took us two years to find this one, and c) I was talking specifically about a 4-year degree, which is likely to cost more than $60k.
Its funny to me that state schools, including Berkeley, used to have reasonable tuition up until the early 1980's, until the baby boomer voters in each respective state demanded lower taxes and the politicians obliged by cutting state tuition assistance year after year. When the state paid 90% of a student's tuition, the colleges didn't have the option of constantly jacking their price up. Suddenly, when it was student debt paying the bills, the colleges stopped doing anything to cut the bloat.
Thank you Berkeley for again reminding me what a scam the academic institutions have become.