This is the old person version of, "5th grade girl saves allowance to clear entire lunch debt of all her classmates."
It's lovely and objectively selfless at an individual level. But step back and it's emblematic of a failing society. Because in a rich country like the US, no one who's smart enough to go to college should be prevented from doing so due to lack of funds. And the concept of "lunch debt" at a school shouldn't even exist.
Honestly. In my country we do still pay a substantial sum, but a friend went back to college a couple years back and the $27k a year fees became $9k with government subsidies, which every citizen receives. It was further reduced to $3k a year with a bursary for low income households.
I used to envy the US as a child for being where all the cool stuff was but now I'm quite thankful I wasn't born American.
I'm still old enough to remember when people in Britain paid zero tuition and in fact received a government grant to go to uni, that covered their rent, bills and other living expenses. I'm pretty sure there are countries in Europe that have that today.
That, along with things like a high-quality, national healthcare system, is what a rich, successful country looks like to me. Insofar as the US has ever had stuff like that, it's now moving away from it, not toward it. It's depressing af.
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u/Jesus_of_Redditeth 11d ago
This is the old person version of, "5th grade girl saves allowance to clear entire lunch debt of all her classmates."
It's lovely and objectively selfless at an individual level. But step back and it's emblematic of a failing society. Because in a rich country like the US, no one who's smart enough to go to college should be prevented from doing so due to lack of funds. And the concept of "lunch debt" at a school shouldn't even exist.