So I was thinking,
Have you ever purchased an ebook or an online course for $17 and just been infuriated with the quality? You get some rehashed, unoriginal, outdated strategy or filler or unsubstantiated opinion? Or even worse, its nothing but a long sales letter for an upsell to either coaching or a bigger, better book?
How about if you go to a Wendy’s and they mess up your $5 order? I’ve seen people incensed about their $0.99 burger accidentally having pickles on it.
The point is, we as people, get mad when we feel the value of what we’ve purchased doesn’t equal the amount of coin we put down to get it…except in one case.
The subscription model.
Nobody has ever called up their satellite provider and said, “there is nothing good on TV Tuesdays and Thursdays, I’d like a 30% discount off my monthly payment since I’m not getting the value out of my Tuesday and Thursday viewing experience.” The subscription model can rock us to sleep (while this post isn’t about marketing a good per say, its an interesting thought that anyone who is selling anything should consider).
This blog post is about school. My school, BYU, has a tuition of $2,280 per semester. The average student takes about 15 credit hours (I recognize that’s high, but we’ll give BYU a little breathing room). That’s $456 dollars per 3 credit hour class. The average 3 credit hour class will meet together twice a week for about 75 minutes. And the semester runs for about 13 weeks, meaning that there are about 26 classes (I once again recognize that with breaks and everything that its not really 26 classes, but remember, benefit of the doubt).
With 26 classes at $456 dollars, that’s equal to between $17 and $18 dollars per class. While I’ve sat through classes that are worth 10 times that amount, I’m sad to say that well over 90% of my college classes I’ve sat through I would not pay an admission fee of $17 to get in. They simply weren’t that valuable. Typically a rehash of the book or an unrelated babbling on some quasi-related subject.
Ramit sethi in this blog post says that a good way to become conscious of spending to much is to purchase things a la carte. My question is, if 90% of the time I wouldn’t pay $17 to sit in a college class, am I paying too much for college? Is my money better spent elsewhere?
Just wondering, that’s all.
