An education here costs NOK 2.5 million – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries

“As soon as you give birth to a boy, you have to start saving for his college education,” says Chloe Searchinger.

The 20-year-old is sitting in a cafe in venerable Princeton, one of America’s best college towns.

An annual salary for a place of study.

His parents pay almost 400,000 crowns for his study place each school year. With food and accommodation, Chloe Searchinger’s education is priced between 600,000 and 700,000 kronor. Every year for at least four more years.

– I know I am privileged. But it’s a bit taboo to talk about it in this country, Chloe says with a laugh.

His family is not rich in stone, but belongs to the upper middle class. Chloe also knows she’s been lucky. The mother works as a teacher in one of the most reputable private schools outside of Washington DC.

Therefore, the daughter got a discount on school tuition when she was younger. The Potomac School is a school that helps students win the increasingly fierce competition to enter the best universities in the USA.

Also, Chloe’s father is a professor at Princeton.

– My father teaches and researches here. It may have helped me too, I don’t know. The admission process takes place behind closed doors. But only 5-6 percent of all applicants apply for a spot, Chloe says.

The dream of education

A recent survey shows that among fifty countries, the United States has the most expensive education. Studying here is eight times more expensive than in the other 49 countries on average, FutureLearn figures show.

– The differences between people are amplified. When education is so expensive, social mobility becomes very low. And for many, the American dream is just that, a dream, says economics professor Kalle Moene from the University of Oslo.

He calls tuition fees in the United States a “socioeconomic disaster.”

– If the talents in society are distributed equitably, this system means that many talents are not shown what they are capable of, because they have no money.

I did not have money

At another cafe, along the highway outside of Dallas, Texas, sits a young woman whom teachers recently thought was a great talent. Kristian Hernandez is thirty years old and works as a secretary in a construction company.

– I could only afford to study for two years. There was no money then, and it was just a matter of finding a job, says Kristian.

He is of Latin American origin, his father worked as a cook and his mother lived at home.

– Dad made six dollars an hour. But I never felt like we were missing anything. The fact that we had eggs and beans for dinner was kind of like it was, says Kristian.

One teacher made sure he could go to a private school for a couple of years, but after two years at a local university, he couldn’t afford to continue. Now she calls herself a democratic socialist and is fighting for higher education to be free in the United States too.

Vote for Joe Biden

– I will vote for Joe Biden, even though he is hostile to my cause. But after all, it’s better to pressure him than to accept what we have, says Kristian Hernández.

Kristian himself would prefer to vote for Bernie Sanders as the presidential candidate in the November 3 election. He went to the polls to get free health care and education.

Exactly that catchphrase Chloe at the elite Princeton University doesn’t believe in anything.

– Who doesn’t say yes thanks to free education and free health services? But sadly, it is completely unreal where we are now.

Hear more about how sky-high tuition is charging the future of America’s youth on the War and Peace podcast