College/University tuition fees

[Erki]

I read there are quite a few people around here who go to college/university and have student loans. I haven't done much research but I reckon Ireland and Norway had no tuition fees(but high taxes I guess..). Is there any way for people to go to Uni without having to pay?

In Estonia, if you're exam(similar to A-levels I think) results are good enough, you can get to Uni for free.

I doubt it's the only country to do this... ~$40,000 is helluva lot of money to pay back to a bank.

[Brutha]

In Germany, where I live, there are no tution fees at university.
But in a few years their will unfortunatly be tution fees (but rather the 10k range then the 40k range).

[Baltar]

It's a fairly complicated system in the US (isn't everything? ), but basically colleges (and by the way in the US there's no "college" and "university" but 2 year and 4 year colleges) are either public or private. Public colleges are owned, and funded (primarily) by the states. Private colleges are basically private schools and are self-funded through tuition and alumni investment. Public colleges (especially 2 year colleges) cost significantly less than private colleges, as much as 3-4 times less. For instance I went to a public 4 year school and paid about $7K yearly. A private school would be in the range of 15-40K. However, if you go to a public school that's not in your state you'll have to pay more than the people living in that state.

Both public and private colleges can provide scholarships. If you did well in high school, you may be awarded a scholarship that covers a part of your tuition, or the whole thing. This is a contest though, so a fairly small amount of people get a scholarship. Then there's also financial aid. If your family's yearly income is below a certain threshold, you may be eligible for the federal government to fund your tuition, provided your grades stay at a certain level. Other people can be given loans, or have part of their tuition paid by the government. It's generally not that bad if you go to a public school.

[Wanderer]

In the UK almost everyone is charging 3,000 pa tuition fees, but that doesnt include hall fees, food, etc. They are estimating most students will come out 20 odd thousand in debt, which will be taken out of your income once you are earning more than 15,000. If you havent paid back all debt within 25 years it gets paid in full by the government. If you move abroad obviously the UK government has no control over taxes, so you could do your 3/4/5 year degree in the UK and then travel to Australia/America and not pay back your loan.
This may be what I do, my degree allows me to spend year 2 in America, so I may be moving over to live with Steve for 25 years before I can come back here with suitcases full of money
Cunning or what!

[RT Wolf]

Originally Posted by Baltar

It's a fairly complicated system in the US (isn't everything? ), but basically colleges (and by the way in the US there's no "college" and "university" but 2 year and 4 year colleges) are either public or private. Public colleges are owned, and funded (primarily) by the states. Private colleges are basically private schools and are self-funded through tuition and alumni investment. Public colleges (especially 2 year colleges) cost significantly less than private colleges, as much as 3-4 times less. For instance I went to a public 4 year school and paid about $7K yearly. A private school would be in the range of 15-40K. However, if you go to a public school that's not in your state you'll have to pay more than the people living in that state.

Both public and private colleges can provide scholarships. If you did well in high school, you may be awarded a scholarship that covers a part of your tuition, or the whole thing. This is a contest though, so a fairly small amount of people get a scholarship. Then there's also financial aid. If your family's yearly income is below a certain threshold, you may be eligible for the federal government to fund your tuition, provided your grades stay at a certain level. Other people can be given loans, or have part of their tuition paid by the government. It's generally not that bad if you go to a public school.

Great post, but one minor point. Many of the so-called "private" universities and colleges are still funded in large part by the government. I could probably dig up the exact figure from my course texts from last year, but I'm sure you can find it on google.

[Scipio]

If you are intelligent and productive enough, you can go to college without paying in any semi-free country. There are pharmacies around here so desperate for pharmacists they offer a full ride if you work for them for three years after--and they don't skimp on the pay while you work, either. The same can go for any career, provided you demonstrate your capabilities to someone who will find value in your work. Your career doesn't have to be business related for a private company to find value in educating you. My friend received an $80,000 scholarship from a bank and she's studying some hippy course on environmental resources and growing organic food. One of my friends has always wanted to be a pilot, so he has joined the air force and is getting an engineering degree paid for as well.

I have saved enough for my first four years through good planning, and will have my graduate studies paid for.

[birger]

Originally Posted by Erki

I read there are quite a few people around here who go to college/university and have student loans. I haven't done much research but I reckon Ireland and Norway had no tuition fees(but high taxes I guess..). Is there any way for people to go to Uni without having to pay?
.

You're right, Norway amongst other has no tuition fees for public university colleges or universities (which is what you want to go to).

Taxes are not really relevant if you're only going to study, but accomodation and living costs can be quite high (especially for Oslo), so you will need a student loan and/or scholarship anyway. Most EU countries and some others (ie: Norway) is a member of the Socrates program which enables students within these countries to (relatively) easy study in other of the member countries. ECTS is used by these countries to measure study workload so it's easy to transfer the points between schools.

Most schools also have a "foreign study advisor" which can give you more information about this. You usually just take a part of your education abroad, though...

[RT Wolf]

I may be crazy about this, but I seem to recall hearing that while those countries have free tuition, they tend to fail a very high rate of students. Not trying to scare you, but it might be something to look up?

[andrew]

Community colleges are also very good. Super cheap and if you're not doing a career that's prestegious or highly competetive, like med or law, it doesn't really matter what school you come from. You've learned what you've needed to learn.

[Erki]

Originally Posted by RT Wolf

I may be crazy about this, but I seem to recall hearing that while those countries have free tuition, they tend to fail a very high rate of students. Not trying to scare you, but it might be something to look up?

That's quite logical, isn't it? If more people get in, more would drop out. Dropping out is usually student's, not college's/university's fault.

[cftwo]

Another thing to keep in mind about US colleges/universities is that while public/state-run colleges/universities have a cheaper "sticker price", once the private schools give out the scholarships that they can because of their endowments, you could end up actually paying LESS to go to a private school than a public one. It is a pretty complicated process.

I will be paying $240 a month for the next 16 years to pay for my schooling (mostly my graduate degrees). It limits what else I can do (travel, for example), but I consider it a good investment.

[Ramses]

The US is extremely complicated, but there are options other than the traditional scholarships. It's possible for ANYONE to reduce the cost significantly. I really recommend talking to a professional college planner.

Jay-Murray College Planner

Is one such person.

Good luck.