In Britain, we've had well subsidised education for a good while now. Nearly all people capable and willing to put in the schooling effort can be guaranteed a degree regardless of their financial situation.

But this comes with two major problems:

1. Everyone has a degree. This sounds damn cool over all, and makes the people of Britain generally good employees. But imagine the job market for someone without one... Job Experience is still the most valuable asset when applying but I can easily out-compete people simply because I have a degree to tack onto the end and make a big deal out of. This means capable people who couldn't get through the expensive and lengthy process of University and instead opted to work early are very likely to be left out somewhere down the line, and stuck trying to work higher in their 'job chain' to a better level. The result is not pleasant for the people that either didn't want to -have- to do a degree or couldn't for other reasons. It also means complete idiots (in non-exam situations) get jobs that very smart, competant people -should- have gotten.

This also means that certain areas have a huge excess. I know people with media degrees, varies kinds of English degrees, Animation, Economics, etc. end up working as managers in bars. Or even retraining to fit another position, in very different fields like Human Resources or Accounting.

2. Our University system boils down to a 'benefit now, pay later' style. This is great for some but the majority end up in a cycle of credit-card style debt, and once they get into employment the interest on what they borrowed to get their education rises according to their income. Add to this other kinds of debts you start to acquire mid-twenties (mortages, cars, actualy credit-cards, etc) and it becomes a rapid downward spiral for anyone who slips up on their personal accounting. This can strip people of 2-3 years where they work almost entirely to shift their debt while trying to find an opening for that degree in Geography or Archaelogy (or anything not science/business based) and earn enough to keep up with the large debts they've acrued. This is the system biggest flaw, although Scotland and recently Wales have completely removed it by paying tuition fees in full. This also draws more people toward Scotland, and is the reason it's 'intellectual' industries have boomed. They're doing much better out of Science and Computing now, and might even make a name for it yet. I think we've all heard of Lemmings. And Grand Theft Auto. They're Scottish inventions :)

Anyway, our social bint has brought up these two problems and are something to watch out for in future with the trend of trying to increase how many people continue to get degrees. Whether or not they crop up elsewhere, we'll see!

Yhorian