第16期 · 大学教育应否全民免费

The proposition that higher education should be a universal right, freely accessible to all, carries an undeniable moral appeal. It promises to dismantle the financial barriers that have historically excluded talented but underprivileged students from the most prestigious institutions. However, I believe that while the principle is noble, blanket free tuition for all — irrespective of means — is neither fiscally sustainable nor socially equitable. A more targeted approach, rather than a universal subsidy, would better serve both individuals and society. The case for free university education is built on compelling egalitarian grounds. Countries such as Germany and Norway have demonstrated that abolishing tuition fees does not necessarily compromise educational quality. In Germany, the abolition of fees in 2014 was followed by a modest increase in enrolment among students from lower-income households, without a discernible decline in academic standards. The underlying logic is that education, like healthcare, is a public good whose benefits spill over far beyond the individual recipient. A more educated populace drives innovation, raises productivity, and broadens the tax base — generating returns that can, in theory, offset the initial public expenditure. Moreover, in an era of widening inequality, free higher education serves as a powerful equaliser, severing the link between parental wealth and educational opportunity. Nevertheless, the practical objections to universal free tuition are formidable. The most immediate concern is fiscal. In countries with large populations and already strained public budgets, the cost of subsidising millions of students would be astronomical. The United Kingdom's experience is instructive: when tuition was free before 1998, university participation remained stubbornly concentrated among the middle and upper classes, suggesting that fees are only one barrier among many. Free tuition, paradoxically, can be regressive — it amounts to taxing the general population, including those who never attend university, to fund the education of those who will, on average, go on to earn substantially higher lifetime incomes. Furthermore, when education is free, the price signal that helps students make informed choices about their courses and careers disappears, potentially leading to mismatches between graduates' skills and labour market demands. Countries like Australia have addressed this dilemma through income-contingent loans, where repayments are proportionate to earnings and no graduate pays until they cross a comfortable income threshold. In conclusion, while the aspiration to make higher education universally accessible is commendable, a blanket policy of free tuition for all is both regressive in its effects and precarious in its financing. A more judicious path lies in means-tested grants for the genuinely disadvantaged, combined with income-contingent loan schemes that ensure graduates contribute in proportion to the benefits they receive. This calibrated approach preserves the egalitarian spirit of free education without saddling future generations with unsustainable public debt. The goal should not be to make university free, but to make it financially accessible — a subtle but crucial distinction that separates wishful thinking from sound policy.