What are the cheapest university degrees in the U.S.?

7 comments

1. Cheapest degree is the one you get a scholarship for…

2. It depends on so many factors; as a college educated American (I know, I know, *such* a humblebrag 🙄), I wouldn’t even be able to take a stab at answering this accurately, because there’s a lot of affordable education that students have no idea is available to them going into their freshman year of college.

   But as a rule of thumb, if you want to “speed-run” getting into teaching in public schools professionally, here’s the steps:

   -Obtain your A.A. at a community college.

   -Transfer to a respected state university to complete your bachelors of fine arts with a teaching certificate (hand to god, this is so much more complicated than anyone could ever dream of because teaching in a public school *does* require a College Degree, but America is 50 different states and with online education being A Thing these days more than ever…)

   -Google the cost of living vs student loans and try not to cry, cry a lot, and wonder if you love America enough to go into teaching.

   One of my 89 million sisters is a public school teacher but she has her Masters in Education, along with a handful of professional certifications, which means she could easily transfer to teaching in a private school for more moola. But I doubt she’d ever go that route; my whole family is fiercely protective of the public school system, regardless of how Democrats or Republicans are trying to dismantle our public school systems year after year (looking at you, r/FloridaMan, god bless the Sunshine State but I’m literally very concerned about whatever Walt Disney put into the water down there 😳).

   Saving this thread to send to her tomorrow, she is quite literally the American Teaching Expert you seek, haha, but most kids in America are always in need of the public school system if for nothing else, free lunch programs and access to a library with internet in the summer months, so all of our best and brighest teachers make next to nothing per hour all summer long, only to turn around and get severely under-paid in the fall.

   So it might take her a minute to get back to me with her thoughts, but she will have a far more comprehensive and cohesive answer than I could give you in several lifetimes, lol.

3. Generally, degrees from the same university cost the same amount.

   In my state, community colleges (where you can go for the first two years of a bachelor’s degree, or get an associates degree) are free for students in the first two years, and otherwise fairly inexpensive.

   At the nearest California State University campus, tuition is about $3,500 a semester for your bachelor’s degree.

   The credential program is about $4,000 a semester and lasts one year.

   So in tuition alone, the journey from high school graduation to teaching could cost about $22,000. Of course, your own expenses might vary. You could get some scholarships or grants which will pay for some of it. On the other hand, living expenses might be difficult if you are renting a place or living on campus (some students live at home and commute) and buying food.

   An average starting teacher salary in my area would be about $55,000 a year, so my guess would be that it’s possible to pay it off in a few years if you took all the lowest-cost options. If you paid for more expensive programs and so forth it might be more difficult.

   I am a teacher but I did not decide to become one until after I had graduated college and worked in another job, so my planning for the expenses was a little different. I went to a private university but had significant grants and scholarships and no longer have any student loan debt. I would advise a high school senior planning to become a teacher to follow the path I describe above because university rankings don’t tend to matter than much for teacher hiring. In fact, the majority of teachers went to the nearest state school and if anything that gives you a bit of an edge because people have positive feelings towards that university.

4. University degrees aren’t really that different price wise. The university I went to had an accounting degree for $16k per year. An engineering degree was $18k per year. Both take 4 years to complete. The price goes down if you have scholarships or get grants.

5. Teaching often requires a masters degree me which is 6 years of education.

   Take Buffalo State which has a top graduate program.

   Instate tuition alone is $28,000 for a 4 year degree. Thankfully most people can get this waive either the Excelsior Scholarship.

   However, you still need two years of graduate school on top of that which will cost $11,000 per year.

   So even going to a state school, you’re paying a bare minimum of $22,000 to $50,000.

   Meanwhile if you want on-campus accommodations that’s $9,000 per year, adding $54,000 to your total (or just save money living off campus, Buffalo is cheap).

   So even if you go to a state school, you can still be saddled with a lot of debt.

6. I’ve never heard of different costs for different degrees. There might be lab fees or something but those would only be very marginal costs.

7. Higher debt is likely become some places require Masters.