Alternatively, go back in time, do really well in high school, and then go to any school for free! (or nearly free).

Consider that tuition payments are also a total tax write-off.

Yes and no -- tuition *interest* I believe is a write off, but not the principle. And depending on what you earn after you graduate, high-earners may not qualify for the write-off. The rules may be different between private and government-subsidized loan types. I'm unable to write off any of my interest because I earn too much and file single. If I were married to someone who is not also a "high earner" by IRS standards, or had a boatload of kids, I'd probably be able to write it off though. ...I know, I know, first world problems.

That is for tuition loan payments. I'm referring to direct out of pocket payments to the school at time of billing. And yes, that creates a significant tax advantage for those who can afford to pay tuition direct.

Consider that tuition payments are also a total tax write-off.

Yes and no -- tuition *interest* I believe is a write off, but not the principle. And depending on what you earn after you graduate, high-earners may not qualify for the write-off. The rules may be different between private and government-subsidized loan types. I'm unable to write off any of my interest because I earn too much and file single. If I were married to someone who is not also a "high earner" by IRS standards, or had a boatload of kids, I'd probably be able to write it off though. ...I know, I know, first world problems.

That is for tuition loan payments. I'm referring to direct out of pocket payments to the school at time of billing. And yes, that creates a significant tax advantage for those who can afford to pay tuition direct.

It is called the Lifetime Learning tax credit. It applies to everybody not just those who pay out-of-pocket. It is a non-refundable tax credit that maxes out at $2000 over the taxpayer's lifetime.

That is in addition to the deduction you can take against any student loan interest.

I was referring to my area, Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake Community College - $1671 for full time (they only offer up to associates degree in computer science).
University of Utah - $2706 for 12 credit hours
Utah State University - $3092 for full time
Weber State University - $2495 for full time
Utah Valley University - $2543 for full time

There are other local schools, all with similar rates for in-state or resident tuition.

As for getting a job, the Salt Lake area is one of the best nationally for unemployment, we didn't get hit hard by the recession. Google says we are at 4.1% unemployment, and there are many tech jobs open all over the place. Cost of living is relatively low, and if you plan your move carefully you can move to Provo so you can get Google Fiber or other suburbs that offer fiber-to-the-home. As a college student in the '90s I was able to find a $50K/year programming job. It was hard to work full time while also attending school, but it something that can be done.

The only problem is it's Utah! Kidding aside, there are a lot of opportunities in smaller urban areas. There are great developer communities in places like Phoenix, Denver, Austin, and Salt Lake City. To be fair, there are a lot of developer opportunities pretty much everywhere right now, and the tech industry unemployment rate is significantly lower than the general unemployment rate.

We don't do that anymore because we spend all our time training children to pass the standardized tests -- hence, everyone needs to go on to some form of higher education, even if they only want to pursue a trade -- if you don't, you get a service-industry McJob, or no job at all.

Ehhh even people with university degrees are working in the service sector now? A university degree is sadly no longer a guarantee for getting a good job with a high salary. Even in Europe this is the case. We have people with engineer degrees working as dish washers and cab drivers now at days. I can even speak from experience when I say that I have met people with ph.d titles working in restaurants.

University degrees are now just a high school diploma and what firms want are that and special skills. All the statistics in the world won't change the fact that many people sits back with high student loans and no jobs or low paid jobs after graduation. That is real live in these times.

So why are higher education so expensive? Well it should not be that expensive as many will not benefit from their degrees in these times.

Maybe you should consider an option of studying abroad. MF faculty at Carl's University in Prague is too heavy to get through, but there are plenty of others, in czech, germany or slovakia, and I am sure some of them would have english applied, though it tends to be rare on technology faculties unluckily.

Alternatively, go back in time, do really well in high school, and then go to any school for free! (or nearly free).

All I have to do is go back in time to 1994, and kick my 9th grade self in the @$$ .

There's a very long history about WHY American universities are so expensive.

Also known as neo liberalism.

Penn State is a public university, not a community college. As was mentioned once earlier in the thread, it's not uncommon for people to get the first 2 years of general studies credits out of the way at a community college, which is typically drastically cheaper than a university. You just want to make sure that your credits will transfer to the university that you intend to go to. Communicating your intent to both the administration at the community college and your desired university will help in making sure that is as painless a process as possible.

Alternatively, go back in time, do really well in high school, and then go to any school for free! (or nearly free).

All I have to do is go back in time to 1994, and kick my 9th grade self in the @$$ .

Man, if you could only time travel once and it was for only long enough to give yourself a kick in the pants... we would accomplish some great things!

Man, if you could only time travel once and it was for only long enough to give yourself a kick in the pants... we would accomplish some great things!

Or not -- I'd probably just go back in time and tell myself to mine bitcoins, then take preemptive retirement