Students, who will probably earn higher than average salaries after graduating, should pay for their own higher education, rather than the state. What are your views?

Obviously, there’s no doubt that the graduates should pay for their tuitions and other fees. Students are customers while the universities act as the sellers who provide the education. It seems like an easy deal, but the reality is far more complicated than that. If students pay before they attend, the financial burden may fall on the families. Therefore, so many poor families may choose to let their children to go straight for work even if the boy or the girl is actually good at academic thing. And we may lose some little Hawking or little Adam Smith for this reason.

However, if the state provides money for people to go to universities, we cannot ignore the situation that some may not meet their expectations, such as could not get a job or losing from it. Even worse, after paying, the governments need to wait. So it may produce a heavy burden on national finance. And it also involves an issue about integrity, like students refusing to pay back to the state, which may make the situation even more sophisticated.

All in all, I prefer students paying as they attend universities, but we could have some exceptions like scholarships and other award mechanisms as incentives for those ones with good academic performance in poor families. At the same time, the state needs to appropriate funds properly to make sure that universities work well.