
Degree gets you a tech job – or your money back - dhawalhs
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/01/13/degree-gets-you-tech-job-your-money-back/78703230/
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MichaelBurge
Does this marketing actually work? If so, then I could charge people $5000 for
a 'job skills development course' with a money-back guarantee. Maybe I make
them read a book or something so they don't get suspicious. If they get a job,
I profit; if they don't, no real loss to me. If 30% of the people find a job,
then my expected value is 0.30 * $5000 = $1500. Plus even if someone doesn't
find a job, they might not bother with the hassle of turning in the
guarantee(the old rebate trick). The guarantee is free money for me even if
it's completely ineffective or even actively harmful to the person.

Udacity are mainly online courses, so I imagine it's pretty low-cost to offer
their courses to people who turn in the degree. It seems like one should be
suspicious of altering their trust level in Udacity even with this guarantee.

Then again, it does at least get the incentives right for them, since they
would make more money with a better program. So in the long-term, maybe it's a
good thing.

