Rising Costs Worldwide for Higher Education

SOURCE: www.caglecartoons.com

Since 1985, the cost of a higher education has increased over 500 percent.   As the global job market becomes more competitive, pursuing a higher education is encouraged and being recognized as the foundation for economic prosperity and social well-being. Joseph Chamie the author of the article, “Student Debt Rising Worldwide”is an independent consulting demographer and a former director of the United Nations Population Division.  In his article from YaleGlobal Online, Chamie accurately describes how tuition rates vary across the globe, and the economic challenges that governments around the world are confronted with as they too are burdened by this problem.  The article is reliable because he gives an objective description of problem and the different ways various governments cope with the rising cost of education.  As the increasing numbers of young men and women recognize the importance of college degree, graduates in places like the U.S and U.K are burdened by their loans, while countries “free tuition” or lower costing tuition are still faced with other economic challenges.

The total student debt loan in the United Kingdom has reached 100 billion dollars.  After graduating from a University in the U.K, the average student loan debt is about 55,000 dollars. The United States’s cost for college is increasing 6 percent each year, with an average cost of 37,000 dollars and a total debt cost of 1.3 trillion dollars.  While the high cost in education is similar for both countries, the process of paying these loans off are different. The repayment of the loans is not actually due until the student has been employed and earning 33,000 dollars, which differs greatly from the U.S.

High tuition costs are causing student debt, but in countries with “free tuition”, students are still confronted with financial difficulties. Sweden is a country that has a free education system, meaning that the students do not pay a tuition for attending.  Free tuition doesn't exactly mean that students graduate without owing loans.  The cost of living in Sweden is expensive and students are responsible to pay for it themselves.  Evidently, Swedish students  borrow money at similar rates Americans do and graduate about 20,000 dollars in debt.  An exception to these students loans and high tuition costs is Germany.  In Germany the costs for a college degree is 2,200 dollars and students graduate with an average debt of 2,400 dollars.  The system applied in Germany unfortunately may not be permanent.  Many German officials say that phasing out tuition was a financial mistake and could possibly be reintroduced in 2020.  I think that student loans are an inevitable issue, but should not completely consume the student in the future.  The management of student loans after a person graduates differs in many countries, and I think it is interesting to analyze those processes because people are coping with debt differently around the world, some better than others.

     

How do different countries require graduates to repay loans and how do the are the processes differ from one another?