Free Education Supports the Future
On October 24th, we celebrate the Day of Free Education. Read the blog from the OYY Board!
Today, we celebrate the Day of Free Education. Free education is a given for many of us, but in reality, it doesn’t apply to everyone. Those retraining, international and Finnish students, and students using the open pathway already face various fees for their education.
Free education is a cornerstone of Finnish society. It ensures that everyone has the opportunity to pursue education freely, regardless of socioeconomic background. The government’s goal that half of the future generation will receive a higher education degree in the future goes hand in hand with free education. We are also in a situation where many fields are facing labor shortages. Therefore, retraining should be encouraged even more, and free education should be extended to these students as well.
Most current higher education students don’t have to pay tuition fees, but the period of study has become more loan-oriented than ever before. During their studies, students should be able to focus primarily on studying. Further increasing the loan burden with paid degrees would place students in an even more unequal position and weaken the attractiveness of fields with lower pay.
Tuition fees would be a huge financial risk, reducing opportunities and interest in higher education and increasing the already growing debt burden of young people who still choose to study. The indebtedness of young age groups is already delaying other future plans, such as starting a family. Birth rates have been declining since 2010, and future workforce must also be attracted from abroad. Free education is a great competitive advantage for Finland as competition for international talent and students intensifies. Therefore, the fees charged to international students should not be increased further — quite the opposite.
The right to free education has already been undermined in open university. The fees for open university courses have increased, and since 2016, the number of paid open pathways to higher education has been growing. The expansion of studying fees should stop here, as free education and skills supporting education benefit all of us.
The blog is written by the vice chair of OYY’s board Eveliina Tiusanen and the member of OYY’s board Jakov Lubenets.