Editing Millennials (section)

===In Europe===
In Sweden, universities are tuition-free, as is the case in Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Finland. However, Swedish students typically graduate very indebted due to the high cost of living in their country, especially in the large cities such as Stockholm. The ratio of debt to expected income after graduation for Swedes was about 80% in 2013. In the U.S., despite incessant talk of student debt reaching epic proportions, that number stood at 60%. Moreover, about seven out of eight Swedes graduate with debt, compared to one half in the U.S. In the 2008–09 academic year, virtually all Swedish students take advantage of state-sponsored financial aid packages from a govern agency known as the [[National Board of Student Aid (Sweden)|Centrala Studiestödsnämnden]] (CSN), which include low-interest loans with long repayment schedules (25 years or until the student turns 60). In Sweden, student aid is based on their own earnings whereas in some other countries, such as Germany or the United States, such aid is premised on parental income as parents are expected to help foot the bill for their children's education. In the 2008–09 academic year, Australia, Austria, Japan, the Netherlands, and New Zealand saw an increase in both the average tuition fees of their public universities for full-time domestic students and the percentage of students taking advantage of state-sponsored student aid compared to 1995. In the United States, there was an increase in the former but not the latter.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/05/the-high-price-of-a-free-college-education-in-sweden/276428/|title=The High Price of a Free College Education in Sweden|last=Philips|first=Matt|date=31 May 2013|work=The Atlantic|access-date=4 November 2019|department=Global}}</ref>

In 2005, judges in Karlsruhe, Germany, struck down a ban on university fees as unconstitutional on the grounds that it violated the constitutional right of German states to regulate their own higher education systems. This ban was introduced in order to ensure equality of access to higher education regardless of socioeconomic class. Bavarian Science Minister Thomas Goppel told the Associated Press, "Fees will help to preserve the quality of universities." Supporters of fees argued that they would help ease the financial burden on universities and would incentivize students to study more efficiently, despite not covering the full cost of higher education, an average of €8,500 as of 2005. Opponents believed fees would make it more difficult for people to study and graduate on time.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.dw.com/en/german-court-lifts-ban-on-student-fees/a-1468971|title=German Court Lifts Ban on Student Fees|date=26 January 2005|work=DW|access-date=4 November 2019|department=Germany}}</ref> Germany also suffered from a brain drain, as many bright researchers moved abroad while relatively few international students were interested in coming to Germany. This has led to the decline of German research institutions.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.dw.com/en/promoting-brain-gain-for-german-universities/a-1299063|title=Promoting Brain Gain for German Universities|date=16 April 2004|work=DW|access-date=5 November 2019|department=Germany}}</ref>

In the 1990s, due to a combination of financial hardship and the fact that universities elsewhere charged tuition, British universities pressed the government to allow them to take in fees. A nominal tuition fee of £1,000 was introduced in autumn 1998. Because not all parents would be able to pay all the fees in one go, monthly payment options, loans, and grants were made available. Some were concerned that making people pay for higher education may deter applicants. This turned out not to be the case. The number of applications fell by only 3% in 1998, and mainly due to mature students rather than 18-year-olds.<ref name="Hodges-1998">{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/student-choices-first-timers-face-the-test-with-tuition-fees-1153845.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220514/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/student-choices-first-timers-face-the-test-with-tuition-fees-1153845.html |archive-date=14 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Student choices: First timers face the test with tuition fees|last=Hodges|first=Lucy|date=2 April 1998|work=The Independent|access-date=4 November 2019|department=Culture}}</ref>

In 2012, £9,000 worth of student fees were introduced. Despite this, the number of people interested in pursuing higher education grew at a faster rate than the UK population. In 2017, almost half of young people in England had received higher education by the age of 30. Prime Minister Tony Blair introduced the goal of having half of young Britons having a university degree in 1999, though the 2010 deadline was missed.<ref name="Adams-2017" /> What the Prime Minister did not realize, however, is that an oversupply of young people with high levels of education historically precipitated periods of political instability and unrest in various societies, from early modern Western Europe and late Tokugawa Japan to the Soviet Union, modern Iran, and the United States.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Turchin|first=Peter|date=2 July 2008|title=Arise 'cliodynamics'|journal=Nature|volume=454|issue=7200|pages=34–5|doi=10.1038/454034a|pmid=18596791|bibcode=2008Natur.454...34T|s2cid=822431|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Turchin-2010" /> In any case, demand for higher education in the United Kingdom has remained strong throughout the early 21st century, driven by the need for high-skilled workers from both the public and private sectors. There has been, however, a widening gender gap. As of 2017, women were more likely to attend or to have attended university than men, by 55% against 43%, a difference of 12 percentage points.<ref name="Adams-2017">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/sep/28/almost-half-of-all-young-people-in-england-go-on-to-higher-education|title=Almost half of all young people in England go on to higher education|last=Adams|first=Richard|date=28 September 2017|work=The Guardian|access-date=28 October 2019|department=Higher Education}}</ref>