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Comment by judk | Hacker News Reader

You picked a poor example. ICC is not GWU

https://www.google.com/search?q=illinois+central+college+tui...

$7k/yr is a great price for a college education. And there is time in summer and after school to work or study additional trade work. The education might not be top-shelf, bit if the student doesn't know enough to skip the classes on the curriculum, they are quite valuable.

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I'm from Eastern Canada, right now a pragmatic student can go out West and work for two years, return to a community college with free tuition while drawing unemployment for a two year diploma where they learn a trade, and then transfer into a four year university to finish up a relevant bachelor's degree in 2.5 years.

My friend lives with a dude who took that route who's now doing his doctorate in English. He still goes and works on the oil rigs in the summer, then spends the rest of the year studying 19th century english lit.

Of course, working oil rigs is inherently dangerous work. People die or get permanently disfigured doing that work. Not everyone of course, but enough that you should strongly consider if that's a risk worth taking.

You're right, that was not a great example. However, the real loss in going to a subpar college is not the money (unless it is quite expensive) but time. Unfortunately, when you're young you don't quite appreciate the opportunity cost of time. Four years is a lot of time, you can become expert in at least in one area in that time.

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