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Comment by jknz | Hacker News Reader

The possibility to go to University in some European city for almost $0 in tuition is almost never discussed. Stay there 4-5 years, get the equivalent of a Bachelor+MSc and then come home in the US debt-free.

Would you suggest your kids to think of that possibility? If not why? Language barriers? Far from Home?

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The main problem is that if you are thinking of getting a job in the U.S., many employers don't have the experience in rating non-U.S. degrees, so will view them with suspicion at best. My wife had this experience when she tried to get jobs based on her Eastern-European degree (from a very reputable University there).

That being said, we definitely are keeping that in mind for our kids (though we are financially planning for school here).

Also something to consider if you might go for a Master's or above in the US. I worked in admissions in a graduate-level only film school and there were definitely issues with someone's BA being "good enough" for the school. I didn't directly validate anything but I assume there was a master list somewhere for those whose jobs it was to qualify the degrees.

A couple of questions:

Is tuition really free for non-residents? How do they avoid getting flooded with students?

How do you pay for living expenses? I don't believe they'll be able to work (at least, as a non-EU citizen) and living expenses aren't cheap.

I honestly had never considered this. Siblings to this comment make good points both ways, but regardless I think it could be a very interesting opportunity for my children to not only obtain an education at a low cost, but to also--and just as important, IMO--get another view of the world.

It would probably be cheaper to just have the kid stay at home and pay the (relatively) nominal tuition for the local state university.

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