Community college here cost us +/- $1,000 a semester for tuition, fees, and books. Multiply that by four years, and you’ve got $8,000. There’s no reason a 4-year degree in most subjects couldn’t be done with the same economy.
Admittedly, the community college is county and state supported, as well as tuition-supported, but after all these years of paying school taxes, we got some of it back by finally using a government school!
The damn books with online components cost 1/2 of Jr.’s total CC expenditure last year. This semester the welding equipment and books cost more than the tuition.
At least the equipment can be used in future classes, unlike the books with internet keys that expire at the end of the semester.