Masters Data Science

[smartdegree]

Wait, this is a US based program, yet you have to take residencies by flying to India?  What's the logic in that?  Couldn't they create virtual residencies instead of having people fly to India?  If they create a cohort, and have people all complete the cohort residency online, it'll save everyone energy, money, time and be less of a hassle...

Yes. I don’t understand a US university requiring US students to travel across the world to India two different times for 2 days each.

Mainly because this program originally targeted Indian students (whose salaries are probably 1/10 to 1/5 those of Americans).  It's actually a great thing that they are now opening up to non-Indian students. If one does not want the hassle of travel to India, US students are free to enrol in the primarily US-based online Northwestern program where you get the same exact degree for US$58,860.  

In MBA economics class, this concept is called price discrimination - a way to extract maximum value from customers based on their ability to pay.  

If Indians were asked to pay $58,000, that would be an exorbitant amount --- the equivalent to asking a US citizen to pay around $300K to $500K (which means Northwestern will get zero Indian students).  A similar concept is applied by some UK universities in terms of price discrimination based on origin country.