On 2022-12-23 12:38, Steve Litt via PLUG-discuss wrote:
Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss said on Fri, 23 Dec 2022 08:33:55 -0700
In 1978 the UofA was charging $275 a semester.
Was that per credit hour, per class, or for all classes taken in a
semester? If the latter, it was a darned good deal, because in Chicago
at least, rent was about $190/month, so this was a lot less than rent
would have been. In other words, if you could afford rent, you probably
could have afforded $275/semester.
That was per semester. I decided to go to JC and it cost me $100 a
semester for tuition and $100 a semester for books.
I rented a guest house that was probably 400sf, which was really nice,
for $125/month and my gas and electric was around $35/month combined. I
did not have a phone.
To put that in perspective the summer of 1979 I bought a 1969 SS 396
4-speed Chevelle for $1250.
I had a decent full-time job and I was able to clear $585/month.
1982-1989 I took classes at Santa Monica Community College (SMC) in
Santa Monica, California. I paid $20/class-semester.
Cheap!!
Yeah, that's right,
somebody could have given up cigarettes or coffee or booze and afforded
to get educated. Sounds like communism, right? There was a method to
California's madness. At SMC I learned programming and within 2 years
tripled my income, which means I probably paid six times more state
taxes than I had before going to SMC. Both California and I laughed all
the way to the bank. There was a single mother in my Microprocessors
class who was on welfare. She got her 2 year degree, and instead of
being on welfare she made a lot of money, so the state stopped paying
for her and started getting a lot of money from her. She, her child,
and California laughed all the way to the bank.
I heard story like this. A woman with 3 kids on welfare went to the JC
and became a registered nurse....
The beauty of community colleges is the classes are taught be real
professionals who do by day and teach by night. You learn the real
deal, not theory.
I like that!!
This is not to day that 4 year colleges are *completely* useless. For
those few students who want to do a deep dive into theory and can use
such theory to excel. I'd put Trent, who already has a math degree, in
this category of students. Armed with his math knowledge, he could
program things I never could. Also, his math knowledge would make him
great with functional programming.
I ran into a guy around 1988 that said he studied math because it was
the only way he could get access to computers.
As for myself, even though I got a 4 year degree in Electrical
Engineering right out of high school, I owe my success to Santa Monica
Community College, that cost me $20/class-semester.
I'd say you got your money's worth.
SteveT
Steve Litt
Autumn 2022 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/thrive.htm
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