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If a person tries hard enough they could get the information taught in 99% of non credit adult and community education classes for free. But again, that would not allow you to be in the same room as others with a similar interest and have an instructor provide you a summary of information in one setting that would take the average person hours and hours to research.
People pay good money for all kinds of adult and community education classes even though the could obtain the information on their own for free.
I am not putting any of you on the marketing staff for an adult and community education program because you do not seem to appreciate group learning- unless it is for a college credit!
Maybe adult education programs are better where you live. They're mostly a rip-off where I live, especially those courses that focus on "life skills" such as frugality.
Over the years I've tried 10-12 of them. A lot of them were when I lived in Los Angeles, and some were after I moved to Virginia. I took them mostly when I was in my 20's and 30's. I took all kinds of things: wine tasting, money management, how to do marketing for your own business, country line dancing, and a whole slew of courses promising tips for how to improve my life. The ones in Los Angeles were through UCLA and El Camino Community College. I also took a few at a high school, sponsored by the city of Manhattan Beach. The ones in Virginia were at NOVA Community College.
My opinion? Adult education is an ok place to meet friends (i.e. guys), but as far as learning much of anything IMO they were useless. I certainly never felt I got my money's worth.
The only class I would ever consider taking these days would be one that involves teaching specific skills (music lessons, foreign language, things like that).
The students would have made that back a hundred times over if they would have followed what was in the class. Somewhat similar to the students who refuse to spend money on a class in job hunting. You need to spend money to make or save money sometimes.
What kinds of things was he going to teach that would save people hundreds of dollars?
That's a pretty big assumption made on the spending habits of prospective students. I'd like an idea of the direction he was planning to go in.
The likely students are currently spending retail prices
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnthonyB
What kinds of things was he going to teach that would save people hundreds of dollars?
That's a pretty big assumption made on the spending habits of prospective students. I'd like an idea of the direction he was planning to go in.
I was never able to take the class because of the lack of enrollment but assuming that most people who would have gone to the class did not know much about saving money by using the Internet, I have to assume many of them are still spending retail and buying things at full price at Macy's. Also they do not know how to find coupons and closeouts and specials on line, so again they are spending retail.
Most of the people who actually want to live frugally are already doing it. It's not terribly hard to figure out.
Most other people aren't going to spend $29 to have somebody tell them to do things that they know - deep in their hearts - that they don't want to do anyway.
Most people in the United States, who aren't living frugally, simply don't want to.
I was never able to take the class because of the lack of enrollment but assuming that most people who would have gone to the class did not know much about saving money by using the Internet, I have to assume many of them are still spending retail and buying things at full price at Macy's. Also they do not know how to find coupons and closeouts and specials on line, so again they are spending retail.
You've got the following categories of people:
1. Frugal because they have to be and aren't going to/able to spend $29 for a class
2. Frugal because they want to be and are smart enough to already know how to save money to their comfort zone
3. Want to be more frugal and are interested in ideas and will take a class
4. Will spend a little time to find a bargain but aren't interested enough to take a class and have the means to not have to be "frugal."
5. Aren't price sentitive at all
My guess is that #3 is a very, very small amount of people. The majority of people I know fall into either 2 or 4.
Most frugals I know (including myself) are basically cheapskates (I'm actually proud of that term). I would rather get things for free (or for very little money) than pay for it, even if it requires hours and hours of self research online on how to get it. There are many frugal online communities where members offer free tips on how to save money (the dollar stretcher comes to mind), so that takes care of 'being able to compare notes' part for me.
If I was going to teach a class on Frugal Living I would get creative and say that while the class is free that in lieu of payment that class members would be expected to pay it forward and help someone else in the future.
it seems to me everytime I see an article/news about how to be frugal, either I already do it, or wouldn't dream of doing it. I don't think I would have spent the time/money comitment on a class either.
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The likely students are currently spending retail prices
