[2b3a51]

Quote from OA

"TYCO Print is a printing service where professors can upload course files for TYCO to print out for students as they order. Shorter packets can cost around $20, while longer packets can cost upwards of $150 when ordered with the cheapest binding option."

And later in OA it states that the cost to a student is $0.12 per double sided sheet of printing.

In all of my teaching career here in the UK, the provision of handouts has been a central cost. Latterly I'd send a pdf file with instructions and the resulting 200+ packs of 180 sides would be delivered on a trolley printed, stapled with covers. The cost was rounding error compared to the cost of providing an hour of teaching in a classroom (wage costs, support staff costs, building costs including amortisation &c).

How is this happening?

[lokar]

Two things

Public universities are always underfunded.

Universities can get more money by putting the cost on the students and then they cover it with gov grants and loans.

[eesmith]

Except, Yale is a private university, not public, while very few universities in the UK are private (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Private_universities_... lists 8 and https://studying-in-uk.org/private-universities-in-uk/ lists 11) so 2b3a51 almost certainly means public college teaching experience in the UK.

[graemep]

your first link implies the definitions of "private" are different.

[eesmith]

Do you think the statement 'Public universities are always underfunded' is relevant when asking how it is that Yale, a private university in the US, requires fees for photocopies of class materials, while in UK universities that appears uncommon?

Yale is private. That comment is therefore not relevant to Yale.

Either the UK experience is with private schools, in which case the statement is irrelevant, or it is with public schools, in which case the statement is either wrong or irrelevant.

[graemep]

> Either the UK experience is with private schools, in which case the statement is irrelevant, or it is with public schools

Amused by your use of two more terms that have different meanings in the UK (although young people are confusing things by adopting the American meanings)!

The point is that British universities are almost entirely private institutions that get a lot government funding, in particular for British students (so they pay much lower tuition fees) and research.

There is a heavy reliance on government funding at British universities so they are probably to some extent comparable to American public universities. On the other hand some have substantial resources of their own. They can also turn down government funding, and some have threatened too at times when unhappy with the terms that come with it.

Given that Yale seems to have had a serious funding gap last year because the government reduced funding it seems comparable to what your sources call a "public" university in the UK

> Either the UK experience is with private schools, in which case the statement is irrelevant, or it is with public schools, in which case the statement is either wrong or irrelevant.

Yale has far more money than any British university so regardless of how you classify them, the question of why Yale charges for things British universities do not is relevant regardless of how you classify them.

[eesmith]

Yes. That's why I don't think lokar's first point is relevant to 2b3a51's question.