Expensive schooling??

5 Responses to “Expensive schooling??”

1. Jan said on October 9th, 2006 4:36 am

   Really?

   I had the impression that education in Italy is a lot cheaper than N. America.

2. Alex said on October 9th, 2006 9:50 am

   Hi Jan,
   You are probably right that education costs a lot less than in N. America, where I understand that college and uni costs an arm and several legs. The school text books I mentioned were, I believe for middle and secondary levels of education.

   At nursery school level you spend a little on school equipment and lunch, but not much else. At higher levels you are required to buy all text and exercise books. The text books are revised regularly and are quite expensive. Kids do not have lockers here and instead need to cart everything too and from school in the ubiquitious rucksacks. I often see primary school children almost bent double under the weight of all the stuff they need to take to school - but that is another story.

   It would be insteresting to learn just how much parents are required to pay out for sending children to school in different countries around the world. Education costs seem to be divided into ‘direct’ ie textbooks and ‘indirect’ is taxes, costs.

   You don’t really discover the actual costs until you have a child. In Italy, despite high tax levels, indirect costs seem to be quite high.

   Alex

3. Jan said on October 9th, 2006 6:36 pm

   hmm … i think the textbook thing is the same. Well, for university anyway.

   In lower/high schools, the textbooks are almost all free (if your’e in public school) - well, you have to return it at the end of the school year.

   On the other hand, university here = about $5000 a year for 4 years. If you live on campus, add an extra $10 000 for expenses per year.

   But compared to the US, it’s a LOT cheaper. Their tuition fee costs approx. $20 000 a year.

   Ouch.

4. Jan said on October 9th, 2006 6:44 pm

   So i took the liberty of checking out US …

   Hmm. Undergrad at Harvard, if you add up all the costs, is about $40 000 a year. Horrendous.

5. Alex said on October 9th, 2006 8:10 pm

   $40k a year sounds a bit steep - I wonder what level of salary a Harvard grad can command? I would imagine that the first few years salary would be eaten away by loan repayments - although I imagine the people that go to Harvard Yale and Princeton are not short of cash.
   In Italy student debt is almost unheard of, mainly because most students live at home whilst attending the uni nearest to them. Family ‘loans’ or rather handouts are much more common and there are scholarships to be won. There are also, I believe, incentives for South Italy which permit plenty of Southern Italians to go on to uni. After uni, if you get 110/110 cum laude you can often receive grants to pay for master style courses. Means testing is widely employed and this does seem to ensure that plenty of people get the opportunity to go on to uni. Wealthier parents help their offspring to go to private unis, where the choice of degrees is wider. If you do not have a well off dad or mum and you are not eligible for a grant, then you will just have to choose one of the subjects offered by your local uni.

   It’s a little different here, but the UK is adopting the US model and, sooner or later, much later if I know Italy, the same ‘pay to study’ fee system will be introduced at uni education level here too.

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