As Gen Z regrets ‘worthless’ degrees, CEO sends child to London university, saving over $50K a year: ‘It’s half the price’

(SeaPRwire) –   American parents (and students) considering if a U.S. college degree still justifies the massive debt could benefit from hearing what one philanthropy CEO chose instead—she avoided six-figure tuition costs by sending her daughter to a London university.

It seems counterintuitive—flights, a foreign city, and an apartment in one of the world’s priciest capitals. But for Liz Baker, CEO of Greater Good Charities, saving around $50,000 annually has made the extra paperwork of sending her child to study overseas well worthwhile.

“Once we began looking, we thought, ‘this is way more affordable,’” she told .

Tuition for her daughters’ London courses is about $35,000 a year, compared to the $80,000 to $90,000 out-of-state U.S. cost they’d originally prepared for. “So it’s practically half the price,” Baker noted.

As someone with years of nonprofit leadership—analyzing budgets, measuring impact, and determining where each dollar has the most effect—she’s probably more equipped than most to crunch the numbers. “I always advise people with college-bound kids to consider the UK,” Baker added.

Even paying for a flat in Central London is still cheaper than U.S. college costs

Her oldest daughter has finished an undergraduate degree at King’s College London and is now pursuing a master’s at the London School of Economics, all while residing in the center of England’s capital.

“Even paying for an apartment in Central London is cheaper than sending her to college here—she was looking at UC Santa Barbara,” which is a whopping 747 km (or a 10-hour drive) from Arizona, where they lived at the time.

Essentially, no matter where Baker’s kids went to university, they’d have to add accommodation costs to tuition anyway—and even with London rent exceeding £2,000 ($2,700) a month, it still ended up cheaper than the U.S. option when housing costs were added to that six-figure tuition.

“I get it—it’s costly. But again, out-of-state tuition at any college is more expensive,” Baker said.

She also cut an entire year of college expenses. A little-known aspect of the British system is that most undergraduate degrees take three years—and if students have enough Advanced Placement (AP) credits (higher grades mean more points), they can often skip the extra foundation year some international students require.

“My one daughter took all the AP classes, so she didn’t need a foundation year,” Baker explained. “Then you factor in that undergraduate school is three years, so you cut that cost, and even master’s programs are shorter.”

Cutting just one year can save international students tens of thousands of dollars, as their annual tuition usually ranges from about £11,400 to £38,000 (around $14,000 to $50,000), depending on the course and university.

A $1.7 trillion student debt crisis is making the UK look like the smarter option

It’s not just the debt that concerns Baker—it’s what (if anything) students are getting in exchange. Many graduates now leave U.S. campuses with staggering debt but no clear route to a high-paying job.

U.S. student debt has exceeded $1.7 trillion, and the unemployment rate for recent graduates continues to climb.

Now, millions of graduates are doubting if their degree was worth the cost, and a growing number of the world’s top CEOs are starting to agree. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has stated he never hires based solely on educational background. Amazon’s Andy Jassy has said an “embarrassing amount” of success depends on attitude, not credentials. And as AI quietly replaces entry-level roles that generations of graduates used to justify their loans, the value once associated with higher education is fading quickly.

That’s why Baker believes young people need to question the return on investment more than ever: “If you graduate with an English degree and over $200,000 in student loan debt—why would you do that?”

She truly thinks her kids are getting more value for their money in the UK.

UK degrees are not only shorter but also more specialized. Students usually focus on one subject and study it exclusively throughout their degree—every module, every year, fully focused on their chosen area.

Importantly, in her view, they’re more in line with the skills employers actually need.

“I think the curriculum is better because it’s more focused,” Baker said, noting that when she earned her musical theater and criminal justice degree, she had to take irrelevant classes—like “Earth science”—that she’d never use in her career.

When asked if a British degree is as respected as an American one by employers, the CEO didn’t hesitate: “Yeah. 100%.”