Ask HN: Should higher education be expensive?

[saticmotion]

In Belgium we have enjoyed a relatively cheap tuition fee for a number of years: ~600 euro without scholarships. However, with our new (conservative) government this is set to change. They want to cut 413 million euro of government funding, and the only way to recuperate this loss is for institutes to increase tuition fees.

The arguments from both sides boil down to:

In favour of a higher fee: "We don't want to pay for someone else's tuition" and "Higher education should only be for a certain elite". And from the populist side "students should get jobs and stop drinking and attending festivals" or "other countries are way more expensive than Belgium" (mostly pointing towards the USA or the UK).

Against a higher fee: "Everyone should have a chance at higher education" or "look what happens to students in the USA, they start their career with a huge debt" and "in Sweden and Finland there are no fees, and it works as well". And also fear that a new class of citizens is going to appear, who earn just a little over what's required for a scholarship, but won't be able to pay these higher fees.

But these arguments seem too simple, so I was hoping to get stronger arguments on HN for either side. I don't really know which side to choose here, because our tuition fees would still be low after raising them.

[chrisBob]

I am torn.

I think every student should have the option to go to college and they should not be limited by their parents' resources.

I also think that not every student should go to college, at least not a standard 4 year university. Many people are better suited to, and would be happier with, a technical school that prepares them for a career, but that it frowned upon. Any student who can get in to college is told that they should go.

[csmdev]

There are no strong arguments for hypocrisy.

The only people who support the higher fee are the ones who already benefited from the lower fee.

You won't hear a student or young person saying: "Yes, I want to pay more to get an education". It's always the old conservative people who eat the cake and want to have it too.

[cafard]

There are people who are not inclined or able to pursue higher education. Should they support those who do? I'd say that Yes, society as a whole does benefit. But if I were someone who couldn't sit still in a classroom, and went to work at 16, I might see matters differently.

[Mimu]

I think education is one of (if not the) most important thing for a coutry (or society, call it what you want). I put it on the same level as health.

As a result I am obviously in favor of free education, or as free as possible.

ps: I am french so my point of view might be biased a little bit.

[alain94040]

One of the biggest issues in the US is cost of education. If you have a country that doesn't have that issue, keep it that way. Too many parents have to tell their kids they can't go to college for financial reasons. That's wrong.

[jagawhowho]

It's also wrong to force me to pay for your joy ride.

[jagawhowho]

I don't think the arguments from either side are too simple. People who recieve free college are in favor. People who must pay the bill are not in favor.

[Mz]

But these arguments seem too simple

The arguments are too simple. If the government can't figure out a means to pay it which is sustainable, then it can't keep doing it. It either stops of its own volition or the country goes bankrupt/devolves into civil war/whatever and is forced to stop.

This kind of decision cannot be made in a vacuum. There is no one theoretical "correct" answer. It has to be part of a larger view which makes all the pieces work together.