Nearly every country in the developed world, and more in the developing world, provide free primary and secondary education. In many states students must pay fees to attend university, for which they may seek student loans or grants. Often states offer financial assistance to individuals who cannot afford to pay fees and have no other methods of payment. In other states, university education is free and is considered a citizen’s right to attend. Debates center on the issues of whether there is in fact a right to university education, and on whether states can actually afford to finance such education.
It is a fundamental right of individuals to experience university and to have access to the knowledge. University offers a huge opportunity. It is a treasure trove of knowledge to be gained and experiences to be had. University provides an opportunity that exists at no other time in an individual’s life. It is a time of personal, intellectual, and often spiritual, exploration. In secondary school and in professional life, no such opportunities exist, as they are about instruction and following orders, not about questioning norms and conventions in the same way university so often is. University serves as an extremely valuable medium for different views, which everyone has a right to experience should they wish. A life without the critical thinking tools provided by university is less because those without it no have possess the facility by which to unlock all the doors of perception and knowledge laid before them. University experience serves also, in its giving of these opportunities, to shape individuals’ views of themselves and society, helping to give form to the relationship between citizen and state on a deepened level. The state has a duty to facilitate this development, as its responsibility includes providing citizens with the wherewithal to take meaningful part in the democratic process. A