Off-line for duration.

Speakeasy used to be good. Now, they are not good. Now, they are crabby.

God only knows when my Internet will go through.

I have the ability to nag, but the coastal problem is an issue.

I feel terrible. Chris and Kristan will lose their minds.

The British Broadcasting Corporation: Are universities worth it?

Students starting university courses this autumn can expect to graduate owing £23,000, a survey suggests. Is university worth it?

The Push Student Debt Survey of 2,024 students at varying stages of degree courses found debts averaged more than £5,000 a year and that this was rising – except in Scotland, where the government pays tuition fees.

However, the government said it was spending £5bn this year on student support and that it was committed to ensuring cost was not a barrier to any student going to university, whatever their background.

I realise the markets aren't open on our side of the pond yet, but xe was good enough to inform me that as of yesterday's close (and presumably the beginning of trade this morning in London), that translates to about $38,000 dead Presidents.

Lacking any other convenient source of hard data, I turned to the U.S. News and World Report, a document studied at a hard squint and thoroughly memorised by U.S. pupils.

They estimate the "World's Best Liberal Arts Colleges".

Their list is:

1. Amherst. Estimated cost over four year degree programme: $150,560 / £90,000 / 107,000€.
   
2. Williams. Estimated cost over four year degree programme: $150,560 / £90,000 / 107,000€.
   
3. Swarthmore. Estimated cost over four year degree programme: $145,960 / £88,500 / 104.000€.
   
4. Wellesley. Estimated cost over four year degree programme: $146,560 / £88,500 / 104.000€.

Basically, Limeys, you are so far out of your league here that we're not even playing the same sport.

We do have some "free" colleges. There's The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, for example. Extremely well regarded, amazing faculty. The catch? It only offers art, architecture or engineering (thus a student has to be more decided than your average 18-year-old is) and it's located in the East Village of New York City. The going rate for a 1-bedroom apartment around there is $3,000 / £1,800 / 21.000€ per month, so assuming you can find a subtenant for when school is not in session, you're still paying $84,000 / £50,000 / 60,000€ over four years, or, if you're inclined to architecture, which is a 5-year-programme, you'll be paying $105,000 / £64,000 / 75.000€ in rent before utilities, food and other minor things that people tend to like.

Or there's Deep Springs College. Good luck. The enrolment is limited to 26 students, men only. Plus, it happens to be a cattle ranch, and students put at least ½ of their time into cutting hay, tending gardens or cows, plus they take three courses a semester of an extremely intense nature and they are expected to spend about ⅕ of their time running the college themselves, by participating in such tasks as designing curricula or board meetings.

And bringing up the rear are Berea College and College of the Ozarks. Berea requires that its students work for no credit and no earnings for at least ten hours per week, doing things like waiting tables, making brooms, and the College of the Ozarks is similar.

Although this equation broke in my generation, the last time I looked, college was meant to be a four-year distraction from the Real Wide World out there. Working your tail off doesn't seem to apply.