Apple's App Course Runs $20,000 a Student. Is It Really Worth It? (wired.com) 37
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Two years ago, Lizmary Fernandez took a detour from studying to be an immigration attorney to join a free Apple course for making iPhone apps. The Apple Developer Academy in Detroit launched as part of the company's $200 million response to the Black Lives Matter protests and aims to expand opportunities for people of color in the country's poorest big city. But Fernandez found the program's cost-of-living stipend lacking -- "A lot of us got on food stamps," she says -- and the coursework insufficient for landing a coding job. "I didn't have the experience or portfolio," says the 25-year-old, who is now a flight attendant and preparing to apply to law school. "Coding is not something I got back to."
Since 2021, the academy has welcomed over 1,700 students, a racially diverse mix with varying levels of tech literacy and financial flexibility. About 600 students, including Fernandez, have completed its 10-month course of half-days at Michigan State University, which cosponsors the Apple-branded and Apple-focused program. WIRED reviewed contracts and budgets and spoke with officials and graduates for the first in-depth examination of the nearly $30 million invested in the academy over the past four years -- almost 30 percent of which came from Michigan taxpayers and the university's regular students. As tech giants begin pouring billions of dollars into AI-related job training courses across the country, the Apple academy offers lessons on the challenges of uplifting diverse communities.
[...] The program gives out iPhones and MacBooks and spends an estimated $20,000 per student, nearly twice as much as state and local governments budget for community colleges. [...] About 70 percent of students graduate, which [Sarah Gretter, the academy leader for Michigan State] describes as higher than typical for adult education. She says the goal is for them to take "a next step," whether a job or more courses. Roughly a third of participants are under 25, and virtually all of them pursue further schooling. [...] About 71 percent of graduates from the last two years went onto full-time jobs across a variety of industries, according to academy officials. Amy J. Ko, a University of Washington computer scientist who researches computing education, calls under 80 percent typical for the coding schools she has studied but notes that one of her department's own undergraduate programs has a 95 percent job placement rate.
Since 2021, the academy has welcomed over 1,700 students, a racially diverse mix with varying levels of tech literacy and financial flexibility. About 600 students, including Fernandez, have completed its 10-month course of half-days at Michigan State University, which cosponsors the Apple-branded and Apple-focused program. WIRED reviewed contracts and budgets and spoke with officials and graduates for the first in-depth examination of the nearly $30 million invested in the academy over the past four years -- almost 30 percent of which came from Michigan taxpayers and the university's regular students. As tech giants begin pouring billions of dollars into AI-related job training courses across the country, the Apple academy offers lessons on the challenges of uplifting diverse communities.
[...] The program gives out iPhones and MacBooks and spends an estimated $20,000 per student, nearly twice as much as state and local governments budget for community colleges. [...] About 70 percent of students graduate, which [Sarah Gretter, the academy leader for Michigan State] describes as higher than typical for adult education. She says the goal is for them to take "a next step," whether a job or more courses. Roughly a third of participants are under 25, and virtually all of them pursue further schooling. [...] About 71 percent of graduates from the last two years went onto full-time jobs across a variety of industries, according to academy officials. Amy J. Ko, a University of Washington computer scientist who researches computing education, calls under 80 percent typical for the coding schools she has studied but notes that one of her department's own undergraduate programs has a 95 percent job placement rate.
Re: Apple Inc. Are Idiot Magnets (Score:1)
Today I learned apple runs one of those scammy coding boot camps. ðY
Re: Betteridge's Law of Headlines says: (Score:1)
Hell no in this case. If you feel that you must pay for courses, then take some community college courses for a fraction of the cost.
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Not of late, though. Ever since they moved macs to the M-series and away from Intel,
That is probably what has driven Microsoft to move to Snapdragon and AMD ARM processors for their Surfaces. Only problem: that loses compatibility w/ Wintel software, which is still too
Re:apple hardware is very overpriced! (Score:4, Informative)
Uh... that is easily shown to be false. Only the base Air is cheaper now - the Mac Mini is the same, and everything else is more expensive. Comparing entry-level prices, thanks to the Wayback Machine...
2019 MacBook Air: $1099
Current MacBook Air: $999
2019 MacBook Pro: $1299
Current MacBook Pro: $1599
2019 iMac: ??? (couldn't get it to load at archive.org)
2020 iMac (Intel): $1099
Current iMac: $1299
2019 Mac Mini: $599
Current Mac Mini: $599
2019 Mac Pro: $2999 (trash can)
2020 Mac Pro: $5999 (cheese grater)
Current Mac Pro: $6999
Re: apple hardware is very overpriced! (Score:2)
https://www.in2013dollars.com/... [in2013dollars.com]
So first of all, welcome back to the surface. You dodged all the COVID-19 drama, lucky duck, but some stuff happened to the global economy while you were gone. Quantitative easing, central bank rate cuts, off the charts dumb money, global supply chain disruptions, war on free trade, anti-globalism, taco tariffs, etc.
It might be prudent to use an inflation adjustment if you're pointing to prices on both sides of all that, just sayin.
Re: apple hardware is very overpriced! (Score:4, Informative)
It might be prudent to use an inflation adjustment if you're pointing to prices on both sides of all that, just sayin.
Not in this case. Since inflation affects all brands equally, how much the Macs cost in 2013 dollars or 2025 dollars or 1982 dollars isn't really the point... it's how they're priced in respect to the competition.
Dell has laptops that start at $479. HP has laptops under $500 (heck, they have an Ultrabook for under $300). Relative to that, Apple hardware is rather expensive. You can certainly argue that it's worth it, for hardware quality reasons or OS reasons or whatever - heck, I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro - but Apple certainly has not uniquely gotten "more affordable" since the Apple Silicon transition.
Now if you want to say ALL computers have gotten more affordable, then that's fine. But note that most of those are still running Intel chips.
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Macbooks are affordable? Not compared to Windows laptops.
Right now,, I can find a Lenovo with an i5 for $650. If I wanted to go cheaper, they have an AMD Ryzen 5 for under $400.
It looks like the cheapest Mac laptop is $1000.
That's a $350-$600 difference.
That's not pocket change for many people. You are seriously underestimating how much free cash some people have.
And why should they spend more? 90% of people are just browsing the web, reading emails, and doing some light document editing. Mo
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as well as most FOSS projects
How would that work? I contributed to FOSS projects though nobody knows I'm a dog.
Re: For "people of color" (Score:2)
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It's rough.
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Re: For "people of color" (Score:2)
Eeeeesh, your talking points haven't aged well.
https://www.foxnews.com/politi... [foxnews.com]
https://people.com/laura-loome... [people.com]
And I'm not even going to get into the YRC or Nick Fuentes stuff.
Anyone denying the neo-nazi problem at this point is being disingenuous. Do you want a New York Post article too? Man up dude, it ain't going to fix itself.
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Fuck No (Score:2)
$20k will get you a bachelors degree in most state universities.
A $20k Apple badge is a criminal waste of money.
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Not thinking. It's $20k per year for a bachelors.
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Not thinking. It's $20k per year for a bachelors.
My undergrad alma mater charges about $9k per year for in-state tuition. Do two years at a junior college for $4k to $5k per year, and you could do a bachelor's degree for about $26k to $28k in total.
Mind you, that's still more than $20k, but it's a lot closer to $20k than to $80k.
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It seems to me by reading the summary that 20k is the amount Apple spends per student to sponsor the programme and that attendance is free for the students.
Relevance excepts: ... to join a free Apple course for making iPhone apps."
"Lizmary Fernandez took a detour
"The program gives out iPhones and MacBooks and spends an estimated $20,000 per student,"
Its Apple trying to reduce what grifters scam (Score:2)
It seems to me by reading the summary that 20k is the amount Apple spends per student to sponsor the programme and that attendance is free for the students.
Relevance excepts: "Lizmary Fernandez took a detour ... to join a free Apple course for making iPhone apps."
"The program gives out iPhones and MacBooks and spends an estimated $20,000 per student,"
It's just Apple trying to control where their "donation" to the cause goes. If you give cash to the "cause" that will just attract grifters to scam money using the banner of the cause. It's smarter to give the student the hardware and very modest stipend.
Is it worth it for the student? That's an opportunity cost thing. What was their alternative use for the time they spent in the Apple program?
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Sure, if you're paying for it. Apple is paying the $20K for you to get an education for free. And it's in-person education, with free provided hardware.
So maybe it's not worth the opportunity cost of having to go to Michigan and study there for a semester or however long it is, but it's all free to you.
No one paying Apple $20K, Apple is "spending" $20K (Score:4, Informative)
$20k will get you a bachelors degree in most state universities.
A $20k Apple badge is a criminal waste of money.
The student does not pay, they actually get a very modest stipend. And an iPhone and Mac.
The $20K is what Apple is spending. It's Apple's "donation" to a cause. Which is a pretty smart way to make the donation. They get to control where the money goes (iPhone, Mac, stipend), it reduces the amount of money grifters can scam from supporters of a cause.
It's like giving a homeless person a meal rather than cash.
Haven't we seen this before? (Score:4, Insightful)
It looks a lot closer to Trump University than anything else.
If Stanford (right up the street you know) can't find jobs for its CS graduates -- far more extensive knowledge and training -- why the hell would anyone expect to found a career out of a positive-cash-flow marketing project?
I have to wonder if you wouldn't get better bang for your buck at one of those "Code Ninja" shops down at the strip mall.
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But Apple certificates are more esthetic.
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Big difference: the $20K cost per student is paid by Apple; the students pay nothing and in fact receive hardware and a modest stipend. No ripping off of the gullible and foolish here.
Stupid question. (Score:5, Informative)
The course doesn't run $20,000 per student, at least not in the way the misleading question implies. The course seems to be offered for free, includes equipment. And even a "cost of living stipend". Apparently it costs Apple, the government, and a donor $20k per seat to provide it. But it's not education at scale, or in streamlined fashion. Of course it's going to be costly.
So the question doesn't include an important modifier. From whose perspective is it being asked? Is it worth it for the attendees? Probably. Is it worth it for the provider? What's the benefit in good will?
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Re:Stupid question. (Score:5, Informative)
While the title is misleading, the number of comments that jump to the conclusion that $20,000 is paid by students as tuition without actually reading the article, is quite revealing as to who are the real idiots.
A person of adequate intelligence would actually take the 30 seconds to click to the article and find the following (emphasis mine):
"The academy also draws positive grades from some researchers who study tech education, such as Quinn Burke. He says its FULLY SUBSIDIZED in-person instruction surpasses the quality of many coding bootcamps, which proliferated over the past decade and sometimes left students in debt and with narrow skills."
The course is offered tuition-free for students. The $20k figure is the per-student cost to its sponsors who are subsidizing it for the students. But no, we have the internet brigade with its performative outrage crying over how worthless it is to spend this money on supposedly "bottom of the barrel" students, at a time when even Stanford CS graduates can't find a job. Hate to break it to those commenters, but by failing to do even the most basic due diligence, maybe you shouldn't be so eager to speak up about who's smart.
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I'm out of moderator points, so instead I'll pile on to this a bit. A state university receives substantial subsidies from the state. How much depends on the state (NH is among the lowest in state contributions on a per-student basis.) Plus there's the fact that some degrees are cheaper to offer than others. STEM usually requires a significant investment in labs and equipment, much more than for liberal arts or business degrees. So one can argue tuition from lower cost degrees subsidizes the more expen