How Much Is Too Much for College?

An up-to-date cost comparison (and critique) of US private, US public state, Canadian, UK, and Irish undergraduate degrees

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At what point do we decide that a college education isn’t worth the cost? Prior to becoming the father of a soon-to-graduate high schooler, my only experience of contemporary college admissions culture occurred when one of my books was copied without my permission and used as the basis for multiple choice questions on the Advanced Placement English exam.

No wonder some now call the American private university “a hedge fund with a side gig in education.”

Now I find myself suddenly deep in the weeds and flabbergasted by the figures. Any number of college counsellors will present the numbers in different ways. But if you simply take the time to punch in the estimates from the websites of the actual colleges and line them up next to one another you immediately see profound differences in cost.

What stands out is the exorbitant price of US private colleges. Unchecked, the cost of a…