Come on down, everything must go!

Nick Anderson of the Washington Post has the story.

Maryland public university offers price cut: $20,000 for a bachelor’s degree

Two Republican governors in recent years have championed big price cuts in higher education, pushing their states to offer a four-year bachelor’s degree for a tantalizing $10,000.

Now Maryland is forging into this price-slashing discussion with a plan that will enable students to get a bachelor’s degree from a public university for $20,000.

This week, the University of Maryland University College announced a discount for graduates of the state’s community colleges. The UMUC Completion Scholarship will cut $4,440 off the price of a bachelor’s degree for students who transfer into the public online university with an associate’s degree from one of Maryland’s 16 community colleges.

Figuring that a two-year degree costs an average of $8,000, according to a UMUC spokesman, the price of the remaining credits to finish a bachelor’s degree would be about $12,000 for eligible students. Students would be guaranteed that rate for up to four years in all of the university’s undergraduate programs.

Total price: $20,000.

That doesn’t include other scholarships or grants that a student might obtain for financial need or academic merit.

“Community college graduates are a solid investment because they have already invested in themselves,” UMUC President Javier Miyares said in a statement. “The new UMUC Completion Scholarship provides a well-deserved incentive to keep going and earn a four-year degree that will pay even greater dividends in the future — whether that is a new job, a promotion, or a whole new career.”