Not sure if it’s still a thing but I knew a girl from Norway who basically went to college from age 18-30 getting like four different degrees because as long as she remained in higher education, the government would keep paying for her education + living expenses.
Not sure if that was the original intent but it sure does result in a highly educated populace.
Have a friend who was a sort-of perpetual grad student - bouncing from Sweden to Italy to Australia - over about ten years, pursuing a degree in marine biology. Along the way, she contributed thousands of hours of labor to various research teams. Eventually, she got burned out, married a neurologist, and moved to a small house in Queensland. Now she mostly just gardens and raises bunnies, which she is extraordinarily good at thanks to her education.
Was this money wasted or did the universities get exactly what they paid her for? Idk. But it seems a far better way to employ people than what we’ve done with The Pentagon or ICE.
Norway here: This is kind of how it works, but not quite.
While studying, you get a student loan. 40 % of that loan is automatically “forgiven” (turned into a stipend) as you complete your courses. In order to remain eligible for the loan, you need to maintain a certain progression in your studies, and there’s also a limit to how many years you can receive the stipend for (I think it’s eight years now). As long as you’re studying, the loan doesn’t accrue interest, and you don’t need to make down payments.
Throughout five years, I received very roughly 200k NOK (≈20k USD) in stipend, and 300k NOK in loans.
Also, a PhD is treated as an ordinary job here. I’m paid about 600k NOK (≈60k USD) per year, which is a bit less than my peers from engineering studies in industry jobs (they get around 700-800), but it’s by no means a bad pay. I’ve been able to afford a small apartment together with my SO on that pay. Hearing about places where people have to take up loans in order to finance taking a phd makes my head spin.
We are part of the EEA. The agreement between the EU and the remaining EFTA members. (Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein and Switzerland.)
For Norway’s part it means we adopt the legislation as national law (we can veto, but seldom happens) and are part of the inner market but not the customs union. Also special agreements on energy (oil) agriculture and fishing. We have no representation in the parliament or the commission. We participate on beurocratic level but cannot vote on anything. (I represent Norway in two 'group of experts" and two administrative cooperation groups) GoE discusses things on a higher level AdCo lower level and market surveillance.
We have a voice, but always a little bit apart.
The best universities in Brazil, the ones everyone wants to study at and the ones producing cutting edge research… Are all free, they’re public universities. The private ones can’t compete on most metrics.
So yeah, maybe americans should drop the whole “first world” tag to pretend they’re special and rebalance their priorities.
Maybe my phrasing was a bit accidentally misleading - when I mentioned they are where everyone wants to study at or the ones publishing the most research, I meant locally, for Brazilians and to some extent our LATAM neighbors.
That’s why you probably never heard of them by name, they don’t carry the weight of an “Oxford” or “Tokyo University”.
That said, you absolutely interacted with fruits of their research. The term “ultra processed food” comes from the University of São Paulo and their research.
Or education could be free. Just a thought.
free? people should be paid to get an education
Students benefits are pretty much that where I live
Not sure if it’s still a thing but I knew a girl from Norway who basically went to college from age 18-30 getting like four different degrees because as long as she remained in higher education, the government would keep paying for her education + living expenses.
Not sure if that was the original intent but it sure does result in a highly educated populace.
Have a friend who was a sort-of perpetual grad student - bouncing from Sweden to Italy to Australia - over about ten years, pursuing a degree in marine biology. Along the way, she contributed thousands of hours of labor to various research teams. Eventually, she got burned out, married a neurologist, and moved to a small house in Queensland. Now she mostly just gardens and raises bunnies, which she is extraordinarily good at thanks to her education.
Was this money wasted or did the universities get exactly what they paid her for? Idk. But it seems a far better way to employ people than what we’ve done with The Pentagon or ICE.
Norway here: This is kind of how it works, but not quite.
While studying, you get a student loan. 40 % of that loan is automatically “forgiven” (turned into a stipend) as you complete your courses. In order to remain eligible for the loan, you need to maintain a certain progression in your studies, and there’s also a limit to how many years you can receive the stipend for (I think it’s eight years now). As long as you’re studying, the loan doesn’t accrue interest, and you don’t need to make down payments.
Throughout five years, I received very roughly 200k NOK (≈20k USD) in stipend, and 300k NOK in loans.
Also, a PhD is treated as an ordinary job here. I’m paid about 600k NOK (≈60k USD) per year, which is a bit less than my peers from engineering studies in industry jobs (they get around 700-800), but it’s by no means a bad pay. I’ve been able to afford a small apartment together with my SO on that pay. Hearing about places where people have to take up loans in order to finance taking a phd makes my head spin.
Huh. I just kinda assumed Norway would use the Euro, but TIL it’s not even a member of the EU. Weird.
We are part of the EEA. The agreement between the EU and the remaining EFTA members. (Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein and Switzerland.) For Norway’s part it means we adopt the legislation as national law (we can veto, but seldom happens) and are part of the inner market but not the customs union. Also special agreements on energy (oil) agriculture and fishing. We have no representation in the parliament or the commission. We participate on beurocratic level but cannot vote on anything. (I represent Norway in two 'group of experts" and two administrative cooperation groups) GoE discusses things on a higher level AdCo lower level and market surveillance. We have a voice, but always a little bit apart.
From where I am anyways. You do get paid for grad school. You have to TA various things, but you get paid.
It is in first world countries, if we define first world as having good educational system, healthcare system, public transportation…
The best universities in Brazil, the ones everyone wants to study at and the ones producing cutting edge research… Are all free, they’re public universities. The private ones can’t compete on most metrics.
So yeah, maybe americans should drop the whole “first world” tag to pretend they’re special and rebalance their priorities.
Huh, never even heard of them not that would mean anything in the world 😅
Maybe my phrasing was a bit accidentally misleading - when I mentioned they are where everyone wants to study at or the ones publishing the most research, I meant locally, for Brazilians and to some extent our LATAM neighbors.
That’s why you probably never heard of them by name, they don’t carry the weight of an “Oxford” or “Tokyo University”.
That said, you absolutely interacted with fruits of their research. The term “ultra processed food” comes from the University of São Paulo and their research.