Why education should be paid for

In Slovenia, as in most European countries, we can boast of free higher education. American democrats point to Europe as a super system that they want to implement. But we have to ask whether free education is really as productive as everyone says or is it even counterproductive. Although we are constantly told that free education is our greatest asset, it must be admitted that it is precisely its greatest weakness, if you don't believe me, read on.

I will start with what percentage of students successfully complete their studies and in what time. The data for 2020 are as follows:

In 2020, the degree of completion of education varied considerably among full-time students of individual types of tertiary education. It was lower in more professional or professionally oriented study programs. Less than a third of enrolled students (31.3%) managed to complete higher professional education, while a slightly larger proportion of students, 41%, completed higher professional education. Higher university education students successfully completed their studies to a greater extent - two thirds of students (66.7%) successfully completed it. The most successful were the students of the unified master's study, 81% of them successfully completed their studies.

Source: SURS (Experimental statistics: Completion rate of tertiary education, Slovenia, 2020)

Source: SURS (Experimental statistics: Completion rate of tertiary education, Slovenia, 2020)

It is interesting to see how many students do not complete their studies in the expected time, but need more than three years to complete their studies after the expected deadline. If we look at an example, only half of them complete their master's degree within the stipulated period, while the other half complete their education barely 3 years after the stipulated period. Here I also have a table that shows the percentage of students who graduated, graduated in another field, graduated in another type of education, are still studying and how many dropped out 3 years after the expected end of schooling. For greater fairness, the table shows success by individual area. They were most successful in the field of educational science and teacher training, namely with an 80% success rate at the end of schooling, while students were least successful in the fields of agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary medicine.< /span>

If, for example, we compare the performance between students with general vs. professional education, we see that the results of students with general education are better, but not by much. If we look at higher vocational education, 39% of students with secondary vocational education and about 56% of students with secondary general education successfully completed their education. In the field of university education, 53% of students with secondary professional education and 69% of students with secondary general education successfully completed their studies.

Source: SURS (Experimental statistics: Completion rate of tertiary education, Slovenia, 2020)

Why is all this important?

It is important for many reasons, but the most important is that we are all paying for the failures and laziness of those who fail to finish school or do not finish it at all, despite years of college education. We have to ask ourselves how much money the state spends on education.

Surs says:

Total expenditures for educational institutions (public, private, international) amounted to EUR 2,975 million (5.7% of GDP). On an annual level, they increased nominally by 10.3%, and calculated per education participant by 8.8%

Source: Surs(Expenditure on formal education, 2021)

Source: Surs(Expenditure on formal education, 2021)

Of course, the entire amount is not intended for higher education. But when we divide the money according to the level of education, we see that tertiary education represents only a fifth of the total money allocated to education.

However, if we compare the costs "per capita", or per student, the picture is completely different. The cheapest is higher professional education, which costs about 4,400 euros per year, followed by secondary education with costs of about 6,000 euros per year, and primary and preschool education both cost about 6,500-7,000 euros per year. The most expensive is higher education, which costs almost 11,000 euros per year.

Source: Surs(Expenditure on formal education, 2021)

Why do such results occur?

In my opinion, there are several reasons for such results. First, the cause lies partly in the mentality associated with education. Many people do not take studying seriously enough, but see it as a period in life when they can have fun and enjoy themselves without putting in much effort. The main reason for the failure lies in the primary advantages of the Slovenian school system: free of charge and lack of serious consequences. Regardless of whether you fail a year, finish your studies several years after the scheduled deadline or don't finish it at all, there are no serious consequences from the state. You might get some negative looks, but that's about it. Failing in school will not hurt you financially. If there were financial consequences when leaving school, for example in the form of paying a certain percentage of the cost of education, many more students would take school seriously, which would lead to completely different results. Of course, those who have no intention of finishing school anyway would not intend to do so at all, which would leave room for those who have serious intentions

That is why education should be paid for, within reasonable limits of normality and of course only at starting high school. I would suggest that anyone who is in high school, college or university, etc. they pay 10% of the education costs. For example, if a student attends a secondary school with annual education costs of 5,900 euros, he pays 10%, which is 590 euros; similarly, if a student enrolls in a university with an education cost of 11,000 euros, he pays 10%, which is 1,100 euros. All these rewards would apply to all secondary school students. Additionally introduced remuneration for all high school graduates who have no intention of continuing their education or do not complete it, since the whole purpose of the high school is to prepare the student for studies.

So why tuition fees?

If pupils or students had to partially pay for schooling themselves, they would respect it more and in the vast majority of cases study more enthusiastically, and the end result would be completely different as it is now. For those who fall behind or decide to drop out of school, the full cost of their unfinished schooling should be covered.

I believe that paid education would be reasonably beneficial for both the individual and the country and would encourage students to be more engaged in their studies. Financial responsibility would contribute to greater performance and better results. In any case, this topic is so extensive that I could elaborate on it much more extensively-