Countries With Free College 2022

Investment Analysis Clubs Macro Economic Trends and Risks
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The monetary cost of attending a modern college, university, or other institute of higher learning can often be prohibitively high. Tuition fees in the United States, for example, averaged $10,000-$38,000 per year (US$) in 2021-22, with many private universities exceeding $50,000. Housing and living expenses add to that total. Grants and scholarships can help offset tuition costs, but typically fall short. As a result, many students—particularly minorities, who earn a disproportionately low income in many countries—cannot afford to attend college. Those students who do attend must often take out massive student loans, saddling themselves with significant debt that can take decades to repay.

To address these concerns, a number of countries have made college/university tuition free for their citizens. In these systems, higher education is available to most students at little to no cost (often requiring only a small administrative fee) regardless of limiting factors such as income level or social status. Most of these countries are developed nations and many are democratic socialist states in which the government also provides other essential services such as universal or single payer health care.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries…

USA benefited from the highly educated Europeans that immigrated to USA after WW2. Now all these people are dead and their children and grandchildren are struggling to get similar college education in the USA. Are we behind in the education of the young people in this country?

Jaak

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To address these concerns, a number of countries have made college/university tuition free for their citizens. In these systems, higher education is available to most students at little to no cost (often requiring only a small administrative fee) regardless of limiting factors such as income level or social status.

Excellent points, Jaagu. Europe and other parts of the world often offer low-cost college choices for qualified individuals - some open to non-citizens, including Americans.

I’m surprised more Americans don’t take advantage of opportunities for qualified US nationals to study at low cost in countries like Germany, France, and Spain, especially on the post-graduate level. If you mix in certain academic circles, you’ll find brilliant American scientists, mathematicians, philosophers, and theologians who have studied at European universities.

A relatively small number of states in the US offer very low in-state university tuition. However, a growing number of states have developed super low-cost two-year technical colleges and community colleges. If a student shops carefully, she or he can find a technical school somewhere in America that provides an inexpensive 2-year degree program for highly in-demand technical careers.

If I had my way, our large public 4-year colleges and universities would offer the last 2 years tuition-free for any graduate of a 2-year community college or technical school. Our universities would find that successful technical college graduates will have developed study skills and a strong work ethic.

After 12 years of teaching in a 2-year technical college, I have seen that immigrant students - whether they are from Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, or Africa - sometimes demonstrate more disciplined study habits than students born in the US. Perhaps the extra effort of working in English as a second language serves to cull out students who are not willing to put out the effort.

I wonder if any of our North American METAR contributors received either their undergraduate or graduate degrees from European or other foreign universities where tuition was free or nearly free. If so, what led you toward that route and what was your experience like?

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Ireland is a wealthy country. Tuition for under grad is $3000 or euro if you like per year. Post grad is $15k per year.

And yes Doctors are paid pretty much on a par with American doctors while not holding the same amount of debt.

I have two doctors in the family in Ireland and two in the US on the east coast. Close relatives.

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Adding

Med school in Ireland is five years. It can be done as undergrad. The total cost being $15k for an excellent medical school education.

There is no reason in the US for not paying most of anyone’s college or trade school education. It is a social responsibility that goes beyond a do not give a damn position. Or a lets take care of the poor rich because I am worried again them.

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The Organic Act charters the University of California. It creates the UC Board of Regents as a governing body and roughly outlines the board’s financial and admissions responsibilities. It states:
“For the time being, an admission fee and rates of tuition such as the Board of Regents shall deem expedient may be required of each pupil; and as soon as the income of the University shall permit, admission and tuition shall be free to all residents of the state.”

1960: The California Master Plan, largely developed by Clark Kerr, supports keeping the UC system tuition-free for California residents

“The two governing boards reaffirm the long established principle that state colleges and the University of California shall be tuition free to all residents of the state.”

2004: Then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, then-UC President Robert Dynes and then-CSU Chancellor Charles Reed strike a private deal, called the Higher Education Compact, to increase reliance on private student fees.

In 2003 the University of California tuition was $4,630 (tuition and fees combined). In 2004 Tuition at the UC’s increase 39% to $6,438
2009: The UC Board of Regents votes to increase tuition by 32 percent, pushing annual costs to more than $10,000; you may remember students getting pepper-sprayed for protesting.
2011-12: Annual tuition and fees for resident UC undergraduates total $14,460

https://www.dailycal.org/2014/12/22/history-uc-tuition-since…

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1960: The California Master Plan, largely developed by Clark Kerr, supports keeping the UC system tuition-free for California residents

“The two governing boards reaffirm the long established principle that state colleges and the University of California shall be tuition free to all residents of the state.”

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BERKELEY – Ronald Reagan launched his political career in 1966 by targeting UC Berkeley’s student peace activists, professors, and, to a great extent, the University of California itself. In his successful campaign for governor of California, his first elective office, he attacked the Berkeley campus, cementing what would remain a turbulent relationship between Reagan and California’s leading institution for public higher education.

“This was not a happy relationship between the governor and the university — you have to acknowledge it,” recalled Neil Smelser, who was a Berkeley professor of sociology during the Reagan years. “As a matter of Reagan’s honest convictions but also as a matter of politics, Reagan launched an assault on the university.”

Said Smelser, “The governor could not intervene directly in the administration of Berkeley. The two weapons he had were verbal abuse and the budget. He heaped a great deal of abuse on the Berkeley campus, and particularly on liberals and liberal faculties. He even singled out sociology and philosophy as hotbeds. He tried to cut the budget. And, he did get Clark Kerr fired as UC president.” Kerr was fired three weeks after Reagan took office.

https://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/06/08_reag…

Jaak

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Are we behind in the education of the young people in this country?

No.

Despite our system of requiring students to pay tuition, we’re still solidly among the best in the world for tertiary educational attainment - with higher percentages of the population graduating from college than many of the countries with free college:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tertiary_…

Albaby

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Despite our system of requiring students to pay tuition, we’re still solidly among the best in the world

$1.75 trillion in total U.S. student loan debt; are you kidding me? That IS the point. You’re redirect the argument to another issue. Yeah, but it’s a great education.

You can’t even count to 1.75 trillion in your lifetime if that was your only waking task. Banks are making $Billions and $Billions off students’ loan programs that are underwritten by the Federal and often State Government. No risk and they can charge 9% interest while the student is still in school.

We can do better.

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You’re redirect the argument to another issue. Yeah, but it’s a great education.

I’m not redirecting the argument to another issue. The OP asked:

Are we behind in the education of the young people in this country?

That’s a specific question, to which the answer is, “no.” Young people are completing tertiary education in this country at a rate that is generally better than most of the countries that provide free college.

Can our system of providing that college education be improved, especially when it comes to the cost of that education? Of course. But that’s not the question that I was answering. While there are problems with how we fund college education in this country, we still have a very high percentage of the population attending and completing college, compared with other countries. It has not been a barrier to creating the type of educated populace that exists in other countries.

Albaby

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Despite our system of requiring students to pay tuition, we’re still solidly among the best in the world for tertiary educational attainment - with higher percentages of the population graduating from college than many of the countries with free college …

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This data (2014 and 2015) is almost 10 years old. There must be better data somewhere.

Anyhow, your source shows that in 2015 that the Europeans are ahead of the US in 6-year or higher degrees.

Poland - 31%
Switzerland - 23%
Czech - 20%
France - 16%
Italy - 15%
UK - 14%
Germany - 13%
Ireland - 11%
USA - 10%

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This data (2014 and 2015) is almost 10 years old. There must be better data somewhere.

I don’t know if there is. This topic came up on Atheist Fools a very long time ago (maybe ten years ago? Search function is long since broken…) and I recall that the data was pretty old back then, too. I think it’s just a data set that gets measured in things like household surveys and the like, which often are pretty “aged” by the time the reports come out.

Anyhow, your source shows that in 2015 that the Europeans are ahead of the US in 6-year or higher degrees.

Perhaps, but do those countries have “Free Masters Programs” to go along with the “Free College” that was the subject of this thread?

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Googled “countries with free college 2022”.
First hit.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries…

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Perhaps, but do those countries have “Free Masters Programs” to go along with the “Free College” that was the subject of this thread?

Oh… well let’s change the subject back to the cost of high education; “that was the subject of this thread?”

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I should have looked at the first post in the thread. Sorry for being redundant or maybe that should be re-duh-ndant.