Tuition - History of Tuition Payments

History of Tuition Payments

In medieval Europe, the universities were institutions of the Roman Catholic Church. As they mainly trained clergy, most of these universities did not have any need to exact fees from the students with one notable exception of the University of Paris that started collecting two sous weekly in tuition under Pierre Le Mangeur. Their situation was comparable with the modern corporate universities and military academies.

Later in most Protestant countries, the main duty of the universities was the training of future civil servants. Again, it was not in the interest of the state to charge tuition fees, as this would have decreased the quality of civil servants. On the other hand, the number of students from the lower classes was usually kept in check by the expenses of living during the years of study, although as early as the middle 19th century there were calls for limiting the university entrance by middle-class persons. However, a typical family could not afford educating a son, let alone a daughter, even if the education itself was free. A similar situation exists today in many Third World countries, where the expenses of "free" school (e.g., food, books, school uniform) prevent some children from attending even primary school.

After World War II, an enhanced standard of living and the existence of free university education in many countries enabled more working-class youths to receive a degree, resulting in the inflation of education and enlarged middle classes. In countries with tuition fees, similar progress was effected with state study loans, grants, scholarships, the G.I. Bill, and other financial instruments. It has been proposed that the strong class separations visible in British society result from the fact that the expansion of education there has been less efficient than in continental Europe.