American parents (and students) considering whether an American college degree is still worth the hefty debt might want to hear about what one philanthropic CEO did instead — he saved his daughter a six-figure tuition bill by sending her to university in London.
This seems counterintuitive. Flights, a flat in a foreign city and one of the most expensive capitals in the world. But for Liz Baker, CEO of Greater Good Charities, saving about $50,000 a year has been worth the extra admin of sending her child to study abroad.
“Once we started looking, we were like, ‘This is so cheap,'” she recalled. Luck.
Tuition in London for their daughters’ course costs about $35,000 a year, whereas they were initially bracing for an American bill of $80,000 to $90,000 from outside the state. “So it’s actually like half the price,” Baker said.
As someone who has spent years running a nonprofit—examining budgets, tracking impact, and deciding where every dollar goes—he’s probably in a better position than most to do the math. “I always tell people who have kids going to college, you should look at the UK,” Baker said.
Even paying for a flat in Central London is still cheaper than the cost of American college
Their eldest daughter has now completed an undergraduate degree at King’s College London and is currently pursuing a master’s at the London School of Economics while living in the heart of the English capital.
“Even paying for a flat like in Central London is cheaper than sending her to college here, because she was looking at UC Santa Barbara.” A staggering distance of 747 km (or a 10-hour drive) from Arizona, where they were living at the time.
Inevitably, wherever the Baker children went to university, they had to factor in accommodation costs in addition to tuition fees anyway – and even London rents were north of £2,000 ($2,700) per month., Once housing costs were piled on top of that six-figure tuition bill, it still proved cheaper than the American alternative.
“I mean, it’s expensive. But then again, out-of-state tuition any college More expensive,” Baker said.
He also reduced the expenses of one entire year of college. An odd feature of the British system is that most undergraduate degrees last three years – and if students come in with enough Advanced Placement (AP) credits (good grades equal more points) they can often skip an additional foundation year that some international students require.
“One of my daughters completed all the AP classes, so she didn’t have to complete the foundation year,” Baker said. “Then you take into account that school is three years, and so you eliminate that cost, and even a master’s degree is less.”
A single year reduction can shave thousands of dollars off the total bill for international students, whose annual tuition typically ranges from about £11,400 to £38,000 (about $14,000 to $50,000), depending on the course and university.
The $1.7 trillion student loan crisis is making Britain the smarter choice
It’s not just the debt that concerns Baker — it’s what (if anything) students are getting in return. Many graduates are now leaving American campuses with eye-watering debt, but no clear path to a well-paying job.
US student debt exceeds $1.7 trillion; Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for new graduates continues to rise.
Now, millions of graduates are questioning whether their degrees were worth the price, and a group of the world’s most powerful CEOs are starting to agree with them. David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, has said that he never hires for academic pedigree alone. Amazon’s Andy Jassy has said that an “embarrassing amount” of your success depends on your attitude, not your credentials. And with AI quietly replacing the entry-level roles that generations of graduates relied on to justify their loans, the premium higher education once held is fast eroding.
That’s why Baker thinks young people need to question returns on investment more than ever: “If you leave with an English degree, and you have over $200,000 of debt from student loans – why would you do that?”
She genuinely believes that her children are getting more bang for their buck in Britain.
UK degrees are not only shorter, but they are also more specialized. Students generally focus on one subject and study it exclusively for the entire duration of their degree – each module, each year, laser-locked on their chosen area.
Importantly, in their eyes, they are better aligned with the skills that employers actually want.
“I think the curriculum is better because it’s more focused,” Baker said, adding that when she took the musical theater and criminal justice degrees, she had to take irrelevant classes like “Earth Science” that she never used in her career.
And when asked whether British degrees stack up against American degrees in the eyes of employers, the CEO didn’t hesitate: “Yes. 100%.”
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