Like many exchange students, Austrian law student Michaela Georgina Lexer pays tuition to her university in her native country.
“We pay 16 euros (around $22) per semester,” Lexer said.
This may seem like a typo to most American students, but for many European students paying so little is not surprising.
“We’ve always been used to that,” said Alice Wiart, a French foreign language student. “I couldn’t imagine otherwise.”
The full tuition for a French university is between $300 and $600, but according to statistics from the French observatory Boivigny, almost one-third of students receive a scholarship based on social criteria.
This scholarship has several ranks, offering different monetary sums, but the one students receive the most does not give any money, it just cancels a student’s tuition, offering virtually free college education.
But not all countries fit this model.
The average student debt in the U.S. has gone from $9,320 to $27,204 in fewer than 20 years, according to data compiled by National Public Radio.
A similar trend is taking place in the United Kingdom.
“It went from 3,400 pounds to 9,000 pounds (from $5,500 to $14,500) last year,” said Daniel Forrest, an English international business student. “The cost of one whole degree is now pretty much the cost of one year.”
Forrest said the English government has begun to spend less on education, and he fears it’s going to reduce the number of people able to attend college.
But a high price is not necessarily a bad thing.
“It might not be worth paying almost nothing to go to college but having a more than average diploma,” said Noumane Rahouti, English instructor for the Center for English as Second Language. “Sometimes, it’s worth paying the price.”
Rahouti is a former exchange student from France who decided to stay at OU to study English and linguistics.
But to go from exchange student to international student, he had to dig into his pocket.
“In France, I didn’t pay to go to university. Here I paid $22,000 for my master’s,” Rahouti said. “But I knew where my money was going. I also realized I was paying as much for my diploma as for the network I’m creating and the outcomes I will have.”
This is something rather peculiar to American universities because many students will later work in the university, and teachers are usually closer to their students than in other countries.
Julien Fontaine, a French graduate student in history, said what justifies the high price of American universities is the student-teacher ratio, the services provided, sports, the library, the network and quality of equipment, and the buildings and general look of the campus.
French universities often don’t focus on these attributes because the general purpose of the university is somewhat different.
“[Universities] are a way to acquire knowledge but not really any practical experience and definitely not a job,” Fontaine said.
According to a legislative report from the French Senate, 46.2 percent of college students make it to the second year. Even among this second wave, 20 percent more will give up before they receive a degree.
One of the problems with the lower cost in France is that it leads to higher enrollment, which also affects the number of teachers per student, Lexer said.
“Sometimes, there are too many students and not everybody has a seat. Some are even sitting on the floor,” Lexer said. “But it’s fine because after the first few weeks, just half of the enrolled people attend ... so there’s enough places again.”
Another drawback of low tuition is the loss of credibility for the French system.
Fontaine said great universities such as Harvard University set their tuition so high that only rich people or people able to receive an internship could go.
“In France, we have all the lazy and the undecided,” Fontaine said.
Moving from a French university to OU has been an upgrade for many, but for some American students, it’s harder to say the contrary.
“The first time I saw the campus, I was shocked,” said Lauren Weaver, a French and international and area studies senior who studied in France. “Me and my friends, we called it ‘Chernobyl.’”
When she studied abroad in France last year, she realized she was paying OU’s tuition for a $500 university.
“At first, I was really pissed — it felt like a rip-off,” Weaver said. “In addition, it’s not only the tuition you’re paying for: You pay for all the services that you can’t use.”
But Weaver said she soon realized the cost was part of doing a reciprocal exchange program.
“I kind of understood. You actually pay for someone to come to the U.S. and to use all these services,” Weaver said. “Even though it’s not really fair, if OU doesn’t do that, no exchange students but the richest could come here, and all the student association would be empty.”
AT A GLANCE
French Universities
Average budget granted per student in France: $14,000
Average budget granted per student in the U.S.: $55,000 (up to $278,000)
Budget of French universities: $10 million to $350 million
Budget of OU: $810 million
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oudaily99 6 months, 4 weeks ago
While studying abroad, I spoke with students from all around the world, and it is really sobering to hear their comments about the costs of U.S. higher education. They say things like "I can't even imagine being a new graduate and already being in debt," with a serious tone and look of concern in their eyes. Some of them attend free public universities, and it is very common for their parents to continue to support them, because the burden of school is enough without the added pressure of working a job. This is actually reasonable when there are minimal costs for the education itself. I witness this and think "This is the way it SHOULD be." In the U.S., we would laugh and consider them lazy, as if a diminished quality of life is something to be proud of. It's not. Life doesn't have to be like this. Students don't have to carry the stressful burden of debt as a right-of-passage into the work force.