Jeff Carter of Points and Figures has an interesting cost/benefit analysis of the recently announced course in the Occupy Movement at Columbia University:
The cost for one year of undergraduate education at Columbia is roughly $53,345 all in. That includes room, board, books, tuition, and fees. Divide that by how many credit hours a normal student takes (32/yr) and you arrive at $1667.03 per credit hour. Masters students pay more per credit hour for their classes.
If you are borrowing money to go to school, the actual cost of the credit hour goes up because it will cost you more when you repay the loan. And if you are on government aid, the American taxpayer gets to pay for it!
Given that the Occupy Wall Street class is a three credit hour class, it costs an undergrad $5001.09 to learn how to camp out in a park and beat a drum while articulating a far left manifesto. I shouldn’t forget to mention that the student ought to consider what a future employer might think when they see that class on a transcript. I suppose if you are going to work for a far left non-government organization it would look favorable. But, I don’t think it will look particularly sharp if you are trying to get a job in a field like consulting.
Maybe if you want to be a stand-up comic…
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