American Education... how do you spell wtf ?

As a student going through the ridiculous process of pulling applications together for law school while spending the summer in Europe, American education is giving me a headache. Every time some European asks me to explain what the process is like or how much it costs, they all think that I am lying when I tell them that I am paying well over $20,000 per year at my public university. They then think that I am rich or how else could anyone afford such costs without scholarships (in a university with 47,000 students in a state constantly cutting funding for public education, it is nearly impossible to get a substantial scholarship; most financial "aid" comes in the form of loans). If by some chance they did believe me when I told them what undergrad costs, they absolutely lose it when I tell them the price of law schools (public and private) that I am hoping to apply to (at least twice as much). When I ask them how much they pay for school, they say that they are paying for one of the highest tuition prices - 1,000 to 2,000 euro per semester (at today's exchange rate of $1.2935/euro, that is about $1,300 to $2,590).

While the United States' university educational system does have merits in the freedom that students have to really study whatever they want (financial concerns aside, of course), it is absolutely ridiculous that a country that constantly stresses the need for educated professionals still supports a system that throws students and their families into thousands of dollars in debt before the students even have a chance to earn any money. My European friends cannot even fathom the idea that many Americans save for college since birth and that this is still not sufficient.

Although taxes in many European countries are higher than in the United States, providing and supporting quality education in public universities for all students is considered a fundamental right. Thus, it is made a priority and families are not indebted because they have children that need a university education.

I do not have any thorough policy prescriptions here, just an observation on how insane the undergraduate and post-graduate educational system is (open to ideas, here). While Americans generally do not like paying such high taxes, reforms definitely have to be made to ensure that the taxes we are paying are being used efficiently. And if someone had to raise my taxes in order to support universities, I would not mind paying it, as the cost of attending would probably decrease. Until some reforms are made, I will be looking forward to dropping more money on law school apps and then hiding in law school deferring student loans for a few more years.