Item — HN Reader

by Insanity·9y ago·view on hn ↗

This is one of the reasons why I do love the system here in Belgium. I studied at a university which is at the moment number 40 in the world university rankings (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankin...) which is pretty good if you ask me.

And the price I paid for each year was about 700 euro plus whatever the books cost. Came to a total of about 4500 euro (books included) for the 5 years that I studied there.

I'm glad that I did not have to pay the rediculous prices they do in the UK or in the US, because my parents would not have been able to afford that.

EDIT: And there is actually a system for parents whom do not meet the minimum income either, that the university covers part, or all, of the cost. I do not have experience with that though because even though my parents did not attend a university, their income was above the minimum to apply for that.

At elite schools in the US, the money spent on college is not the significant gap between those from wealthy or poor families, but the money spent before college (i.e., the background experiences they come in with) and the money spent outside of college (i.e., the experiences you can't engage in while your there.)

To be clear, affording college is a real struggle for lots of Americans, but if you get into a top Ivy school, it's usually a much smaller burden than a second-tier one. They have big financial aid programs; I have a friend going to Harvard from a lower-class background, and their tuition is essentially nothing, but they feel extremely out of place.