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I should add that tuition and infrastructure are free, but living expenses during enrollment are not. Student loans are available to all - low fixed interest, long repayment. However many students do work part time, or weekends or holidays. If only to pay their mobile entertainments bills ;-)

Gone are the days of my youth when the last three weeks of term often meant a bacon buttie and a cup of tea were a day's rations.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sun Mar 1st, 2009 at 05:33:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]
By "infrastructure" do you mean boarding, ie. their room? And then I suppose the loans are for food and incidentals?
by glacierpeaks (glacierpeaks@comcast.net) on Sun Mar 1st, 2009 at 05:44:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
No, I mean everything that goes into providing the tuition. Helsinki University does, for historical reasons, own a lot of property. They rent accommodation to students - but the students pay rent.

For historical reasons also (mostly endowments), many of the student unions also own property and thus are quite rich. This allows them to provide good services. One of the unions, for instance, owns one of the largest theatres right in the center of Helsinki - it is mostly a music venue that is run by the union.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sun Mar 1st, 2009 at 06:42:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]
One of the weird parts of the US higher education system is that at the very top private schools, things are cheaper than anywhere in Europe for low and middle income families - not only no tuition, but free food, free housing. For other expenses (books, computer, trips home, a modest amount of other spending) they calculate what it will cost, deduct the amount you'd earn working ten hrs/wk at a low paid job plus some summer earnings, and give you the rest. These are grants, not loans. At the same time the public higher education system has been getting ever more expensive, and only a minute fraction of students can get into one of the top schools. Furthermore, due to a combination of better pre  university education for the upper middle class and wealthy, plus the 'legacy' system, the poor and middle class are at a distinct disadvantage in the admissions process.
by MarekNYC on Mon Mar 2nd, 2009 at 12:50:26 AM EST
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