Do students have to pay their own college fees? (Kana Shimamoto and Taisei Hamaguchi)

Have you ever thought about student money? In Japan, the population is declining year by year, resulting in an aging society with fewer children. Fewer people paying taxes and higher social security costs put pressure on the national budget, necessitating cost cutting. So, is it no longer necessary for the government to subsidize college tuition? Should students pay for college?

Firstly, In Japan, the age of adulthood will be lowered from 20 to 18 this year. Students become adults when they enter college and must take responsibility for their own. In addition, students will be able to take out loans from the age of 18 accordingly. Therefore, the environment is conducive for students to pay their own college tuition. 

Second, Japanese universities are not that expensive compared to other countries. According to data reported to the U.S. News in an annual survey, the average cost of tuition and fees for the 2021-2022 school year is $43,775 at private colleges, $28,238 for out-of-state students at public schools and $11,631 for state residents at public colleges in the U.S.. On the other hand, the average tuition at private universities in Japan is 958,749 yen ($8,076), at national universities is 535,800 yen ($4,513), and at public universities is 533,607 yen ($4,495). In fact, tuition fees are one-fifth of what they are in the U.S., even at the most expensive private universities, which is an amount that students can pay for themselves. However, these data ignore the students' perspectives.

If students had to pay their tuition fees, they are more likely to quit school. According to a survey, 16.7% of students leave university for financial reasons. Additionally, high tuition hinders students from having the best choice of university. In fact, 20.1% of them choose schools because their fees are low. It is unequal that poor students cannot receive a good education.

In addition to this, students’ poverty could lead to further inequality. On average, today's college graduates earn nearly $17,500 more per year than their peers who have only a high school diploma. Furthermore, people who only have a high school diploma have a 12.2% chance of being unemployed, while college graduates 3.8%. Therefore, it’s worth investing money in students.

Students who cannot afford to pay university tuition are less likely to have a good education or a high-paid job. For this reason, it is unacceptable to impose on students the obligation to pay their own tuition, and the state must guarantee to students that they will be able to go to college. Likewise, not only the state but also universities can help students to learn. Universities should promote open education resources that make lectures available freely. For example, the University of Tokyo is making lectures available online at no cost through MOOC, UTokyo OCW, and UTokyo TV. As these open education resources become more widely used, it may become possible to obtain the same level of knowledge without going to university in the future.