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Ask HN: How affordable is a degree for a CS job in your country?
1 points by unimployed 2504 days ago
I’m having trouble finding good compiled information covering more than a sprinkling of the Americas and Europe, so I figured I’d ask HN.

How affordable is it in your country as a resident to attain a respectable degree for a computer science job? By respectable I mean a FAANG would consider hiring you based on the degree and the university (4 year BA/BS minimum).

If you can reference affordability to another nation (such as the US, UK, CA, etc.) that’s even better. Please consider typical incomes after taxes if you can.

ESPECIALLY WANTED Figures from Asia: India, China, South Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan, Turkey, etc.

4 comments

Approximate facts from Finland: Bachelors program is 3 years and Masters (which basically everybody does) is extra 2. There was a major shift from direct subsidies to government-backed loans on 2017 but first I'll refer to the benefits I got.

My university fees were about 100 eur / year + books etc. Housing was subsidized by 80% so if you live on the campus on a shared two-bedroom unit you had to pay out of pocket maybe 50 - 60 eur / month. In addition I got a "salary" of 330 eur / month while studying, so not in summer break during which I was doing internship. You can get a student loan as well, up-to 400 eur / month. If you graduate on time the government will pay 40% of your student loan on the part in the excess of 2500 euros.

Under the new system students get paid 250 eur / month + the 80% housing cost (up to a limit), and can get up-to 650 eur / month loan. You are expected to work during the summer and there are still no benefits. If you graduate on time the government will pay 30% of your student loan on the part in the excess of 2500 euros.

After graduating and working for some years you can expect a salary of 3500 - 4500 eur / month which is about 2500 - 3000 eur / month after taxes. Here the salary differences are very small across jobs and tax progression is fairly high as well. Add employer's expenses and 24% VAT and then hardly anyone can afford to hire someone to clean their home once a month so everybody does it themselves instead.

Finnish source: https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opintotuki

In the US, the range goes from from $0 to $400k. There's a benefit in prestige and connections from the higher priced ones, but you can absolutely succeed with the $0 option.

Most Ivy League schools have need-based scholarships that bring the cost to $0 for students from low-income families, but you need great entrance test scores. Lambda School (I'm an investor) pays you up front, and takes a percentage of your income later. https://lambdaschool.com/about

Looking to compare degreed programs only unfortunately.
Still, I think the fact that the range goes from $0 to $400k for degreed programs in the US means that assigning a particular number is fairly meaningless.
Agreed. Looking for typical costs like median or average (not atypical extremes).
Germany: essentially free. In my city the university charges a mandatory 16 Euro (18 USD) per month for all-access public transport.
What kind of taxes do Germans pay? It gets difficult to compare a German higher education to other nations when the costs are embedded in taxes instead of tuition. That’s part of the reason I want to compile more information.
Israel:

annual tuition of BA 2019: 10,289NIS

annual median salary 2018: 12*7,452NIS = 89,42NIS