Many students pose themselves this question before starting their higher education pathway. It is an important decision that will probably influence your future life, both as a person and as a student. In the next few lines we tried to explain why you should choose a public or a private university, taking the most important factors into consideration. We hope that this will help you with your decision.
Education Quality
To answer better the question, we made a comparison of the 10 best universities in the world in 2018. It is known that the top four universities in the world are to be found in the US and that all of them are private ones. These are MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Stanford University, Harvard University and California Institute of Technology. This clearly shows that the best universities in the world are the private ones, but that doesn't mean that you should choose a private one. In fact, if we look at the rest of the list, we will see that in Europe the situation is different. From the 5th to the 8th position we have four UK universities and these are all public ones:University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, UCL (University College London) and Imperial College London. In the 9th position there is again a US university to be found, the University of Chicago, also a private one. In the 10th position there is a Swiss university the ETH Zurich, a public one. From this comparison we can say that if you are going to study in the US, maybe it is better to enrol in a private university, on the other hand, if you are going to study in Europe you should probably attend a public university. But overall, in terms of education quality, private university is the winner.
Tuition Fees
This is another factor which can help you in determining your future choice. If we take into consideration the top 10 list we can acknowledge that public universities have considerably lower tuition fees. All the US private universities in the list have a tuition fee of about 50,000 $ per year. The public universities in the US (not in the top 10) have a tuition fee of about 16,000 $. If we look at the UK public universities, the fees are about 11,000 $ for UK/EU students and between 20,000-40,000 $ for non-EU/UK students (excluding medicine). The only public university that stands out for its low tuition fees is the ETH Zurich, with about 1,200 $ per year, both for national and international students. Said that, in terms of costs, the public university is the winner.
Other Factors
Till now we have compared the universities in terms of education quality and tuition fees, but what are the other factors to take into consideration? Well, it depends from person to person and from country to country. You should always look what is really better for you. Do you prefer to study in your country or abroad? Which course are you going to attend? What are your career ambitions? Do you want to continue with research or do you want to work after graduation? There are simply too many factors to compare. Every person is different and so is every country, for this reason, we suggest that you think what is actually better for you and according to your personal wishes and goals choose the university that works better for you, no matter what the statistics say. Even though some universities are believed to be the best ones, that doesn`t mean that they are the best for you.
Never Give Up
Deciding whether to attend a public or private university can be quite stressful. However, whatever you decide, it is never the end of the world. Everybody is allowed to make mistakes and mistakes can be corrected. The important thing is that you are satisfied with your choice. Sometimes, most beliefs come from our head, so if we convince ourselves that our choice is the best, it will most probably be. Give your best and live the life that you want. Public or private, the university is there to make your goals come true. Whatever your decision will be, you should know that in the end, what counts most is if you have finished your university, so be patient, motivated and concentrated and you will succeed in both public and private ones. Good luck!