Are We Crazy for Questioning a $250k US Degree and looking abroad?

[Anonymous]

Also, the US Dollar has declined 12 percent so far since Trump was elected, the worst performance in 50 years. And it will continue to decline for the foreseeable future, which makes college overseas increasingly expensive for those paying in US dollars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are many excellent public universities in the US that will end up being cheaper than the international schools you list above, even if you are OOS.

I know when we looked at Toronto two years ago for a STEM major it was going to be around US$62k/year. Cheaper than privates, but more than many public options in the US.

On the job front, it's really only the first job...but Toronto, McGill, UBC, Waterloo, Oxbridge, UCL (and like 10+ other UK schools), Zurich (the tech school that is like the MIT of Europe) et al are all generally known. I can't imagine your kid would really be looking at random European colleges anyway.

Right. I realize Toronto is expensive. Although I mentioned Canada, we really were not looking at Canada. EU prices are a fraction of that and considering English universities are just 3 years, they end up being much cheaper even with the current exchange rate. Unfortunately neither kid wants to stay in-state. So I’m trying to be open about this and get others perspectives with experience at colleges other than Oxbridge/Imperial/LSE.

a three year degree from eu is considered an associate degree in the US and not the equivalent of a four year college degree for either higher education or first time jobs.

This is most idiotic post of the year. Congrats!!!! Oh my god…

+1. I’ve worked with people who have undergrad degrees from European universities. They get hired just the same way American students do, who have degrees from 4 year universities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I realize this is an old, reactivated thread, but anyone who thinks it is always cheaper overseas should check online before jumping in. St. Andres is now $66,000 a year for international students, so $264K (not including airfare) and Oxford is now $81,765 pounds, so x 3 years. A better option is to do state flagship for undergrad and grad overseas.

The vast majority of programs Americans are applying to at Oxford are not $81,765 pounds per year. 37 to 42k pounds is tuition.

Also St Andrews is not $66k. 2026 tuition is $33k pounds + 10k for halls+food = $43k pounds…. That is $58k. The 66k number you see is the number they have to provide for Student Loans since it is one of the only UKI unis that qualify for US student Loans.,….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, the US Dollar has declined 12 percent so far since Trump was elected, the worst performance in 50 years. And it will continue to decline for the foreseeable future, which makes college overseas increasingly expensive for those paying in US dollars.

And still, a better exchange rate than the first 14 years of this century. Glad you have a crystal ball with your PhD in Economics to forecast the exchange rate over the next 4 years. What are you doing here, you should be trading FX instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a degree from a solid British university that you’ve never heard of. I’ve had no problems getting jobs in the US. And as a hiring manager I care much more about experience and presentation of a candidate than what college an applicant attended. The don’t even remember the colleges any of the people I’ve hired attended.

What kind of work do you do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I realize this is an old, reactivated thread, but anyone who thinks it is always cheaper overseas should check online before jumping in. St. Andres is now $66,000 a year for international students, so $264K (not including airfare) and Oxford is now $81,765 pounds, so x 3 years. A better option is to do state flagship for undergrad and grad overseas.

First of all NOBODY here (just ready the whole thread) insisted or said that it is “ always cheaper overseas “. You are the first one that said that.

Clearly you are you quite grasping the point being made here by a lot of people. The avg kid going to St Andrews or elsewhere in the UK or Europe is NOT the same kid that is forgoing their state flagship to do so. Please…..different universes…..these kids are kids that likely going to be full pay at T100 US privates. Don’t be naive.

[Anonymous]

BTW, I only know about St Andrews, but they allow you to pay tuition with a 4 pmt installment plan using a credit card w no additional fees….plus as mentioned above one of the only UK unis you can get US student loans to cover it…

[Anonymous]

Not crazy, still plenty of good UK options even at current exchange rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I realize this is an old, reactivated thread, but anyone who thinks it is always cheaper overseas should check online before jumping in. St. Andres is now $66,000 a year for international students, so $264K (not including airfare) and Oxford is now $81,765 pounds, so x 3 years. A better option is to do state flagship for undergrad and grad overseas.

First of all NOBODY here (just ready the whole thread) insisted or said that it is “ always cheaper overseas “. You are the first one that said that.

Clearly you are you quite grasping the point being made here by a lot of people. The avg kid going to St Andrews or elsewhere in the UK or Europe is NOT the same kid that is forgoing their state flagship to do so. Please…..different universes…..these kids are kids that likely going to be full pay at T100 US privates. Don’t be naive.

Po is correctly responding to OP’s claims: “the pros are still massive. The most obvious is the cost, which is just staggering. We're talking about the potential to get a degree for a price that's less than a single year at some private US colleges. The math is pretty compelling: with many EU public universities having tuition at a fraction of US schools, the savings are life-changing. Specially if you are able to invest that savings on behalf of your kids for when they graduate.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I realize this is an old, reactivated thread, but anyone who thinks it is always cheaper overseas should check online before jumping in. St. Andres is now $66,000 a year for international students, so $264K (not including airfare) and Oxford is now $81,765 pounds, so x 3 years. A better option is to do state flagship for undergrad and grad overseas.

First of all NOBODY here (just ready the whole thread) insisted or said that it is “ always cheaper overseas “. You are the first one that said that.

Clearly you are you quite grasping the point being made here by a lot of people. The avg kid going to St Andrews or elsewhere in the UK or Europe is NOT the same kid that is forgoing their state flagship to do so. Please…..different universes…..these kids are kids that likely going to be full pay at T100 US privates. Don’t be naive.

Po is correctly responding to OP’s claims: “the pros are still massive. The most obvious is the cost, which is just staggering. We're talking about the potential to get a degree for a price that's less than a single year at some private US colleges. The math is pretty compelling: with many EU public universities having tuition at a fraction of US schools, the savings are life-changing. Specially if you are able to invest that savings on behalf of your kids for when they graduate.”

And there is nothing wrong with OP claims…even at this exchange rate, it is still true. A place like Exeter at 24k Pounds x 3 years (73k pounds) is still less than $100k dollars..and you get your degree…..

PP cherry-picked two schools to make a point (with one being a 4-yr degree) and even then. Still cheaper that ANY top 100 Private full pay uni in the US. As a PP mentioned, there very little IF ANY crossover between in state flagship uni applicants and kids who go abroad….noen of these kids are making these decisions (maybe. Tiny percentage). I have had 3 kids study in the UK from California. None of them had friends that made decisions to attend their UK school that were forgoing a State Flagship to do so. Different crowds….whether you like it or not.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, but no Full Pay Private in the US in the t50-t100 level is worth it vs any of the UK unis mentioned in here.

[Anonymous]

One of my nephews turned down NYU and other good universities for University of British Columbia.

Instead of paying 90K/year, his family will pay 30K/year which was too good to pass up (plus the skiing there is great.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Notable European Universities by Country / Area
• Switzerland: ETH Zurich, EPFL
• United Kingdom: Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL, King’s, etc.
• Germany: Technical University of Munich (TUM) ; Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) ; Heidelberg University ; Humboldt (Berlin)
• Belgium / Netherlands / Belgium: KU Leuven 
• Sweden / Scandinavia: Karolinska InstituteP

Adding a few German and Dutch Universities that are really great. Humboldt University Berlin, University of Tuebingen (Germany).
For Engineering: TU Delft (Netherlands) and Aachen University (Germany) are also excellent.

[Anonymous]

Can’t your kid go their in-state school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I realize this is an old, reactivated thread, but anyone who thinks it is always cheaper overseas should check online before jumping in. St. Andres is now $66,000 a year for international students, so $264K (not including airfare) and Oxford is now $81,765 pounds, so x 3 years. A better option is to do state flagship for undergrad and grad overseas.

First of all NOBODY here (just ready the whole thread) insisted or said that it is “ always cheaper overseas “. You are the first one that said that.

Clearly you are you quite grasping the point being made here by a lot of people. The avg kid going to St Andrews or elsewhere in the UK or Europe is NOT the same kid that is forgoing their state flagship to do so. Please…..different universes…..these kids are kids that likely going to be full pay at T100 US privates. Don’t be naive.

Po is correctly responding to OP’s claims: “the pros are still massive. The most obvious is the cost, which is just staggering. We're talking about the potential to get a degree for a price that's less than a single year at some private US colleges. The math is pretty compelling: with many EU public universities having tuition at a fraction of US schools, the savings are life-changing. Specially if you are able to invest that savings on behalf of your kids for when they graduate.”

And there is nothing wrong with OP claims…even at this exchange rate, it is still true. A place like Exeter at 24k Pounds x 3 years (73k pounds) is still less than $100k dollars..and you get your degree…..

PP cherry-picked two schools to make a point (with one being a 4-yr degree) and even then. Still cheaper that ANY top 100 Private full pay uni in the US. As a PP mentioned, there very little IF ANY crossover between in state flagship uni applicants and kids who go abroad….noen of these kids are making these decisions (maybe. Tiny percentage). I have had 3 kids study in the UK from California. None of them had friends that made decisions to attend their UK school that were forgoing a State Flagship to do so. Different crowds….whether you like it or not.

There are plenty of these kids in Virginia, which is where a lot of these posters are located.