We have two types of universities/colleges here: public (state supported) and private. The state-supported schools charge relatively low fees for tuition, room, and board, especially to residents of the state in which a given school is located. (Every U.S. state has as least one system of public universities; some have more than one.) However, "low" doesn’t mean free. Even our state-supported schools charge more than U.K. residents would have to pay.

Our private universities and colleges are very, very expensive, costing tens of thousands of dollars each year.

So, how do Americans pay? They apply for financial aid in the form of scholarships, grants, and loans. Many of the private schools (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.) are extremely well-endowed and have a lot of financial aid money available. They give accepted students financial aid packages, which can be extremely generous. That’s how I earned my undergraduate and graduate degrees. Some of them no longer require students to take out loans so that they won’t graduate with high debt burdens.

But getting into these generous schools is often difficult, and attending a less generous school with less financial aid money available can be a real burden on the pocketbook. It can require students to take out very large loans in addition to whatever grants and scholarships they can get and to whatever they and their parents can pay out of pocket. Many people do it, but the loan repayments aren’t easy.

Does that answer your question?
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