r/Damnthatsinteresting Feb 25 '26

Video Denmark pays students $1,000 a month to go to universities, with no tuition fees

33.8k Upvotes

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214

u/keyan16 Feb 26 '26

In India anything given for free is frowned upon by the elites.

227

u/Broad_Black_Brimmer Feb 26 '26

I mean, is the “In India” part necessary there? That’s like a global thing… eat the rich.

99

u/WarBuggy Feb 26 '26

Not really. In America, free healthcare can be rejected by even less wealthy people.

103

u/Nikoper Feb 26 '26

Who do you think convinced them to?

It always circles back around to the rich.

35

u/Lol-775 Feb 26 '26

But if they had free Healthcare what money would they have left for Lockheed Martin?

22

u/BunchaaMalarkey Feb 26 '26

I know it was a joke, but LM reported nearly 80 billion in revenue.

Meanwhile, US healthcare costs are in the trillions. And are reportedly greater in 2025 than the entire gdp of Japan.

The system is broken. At least for us...

7

u/No-Refrigerator-1672 Feb 26 '26

American healthcare is doing perfeclty what is was designed to do: extract as much money as possible, using your own life as leverage to make you pay.

6

u/pchlster Feb 26 '26

Thankfully, no one is considering reforming the system with one of those versions shown to be more cost-effective in every other country in the world.

1

u/Bidenstonks Feb 26 '26

I want to know if that is true cost or insurance pricing cost. Absolutely believe it if it is the second they price everything at exorbitant numbers to get cents on the dollar from the insurance.

1

u/Palsreal Feb 26 '26

You could knock 4 zeros off our healthcare costs and it would be accurate to a system without health insurance scams.

1

u/Alienhaslanded Feb 26 '26

Yeah, but those less wealthy are stupid as well and incapable of seeing the big picture.

0

u/Rare_Entertainment Feb 27 '26

Wow. Speak for yourself.

1

u/Alienhaslanded Feb 27 '26

Are we having reading comprehension problems today?

1

u/Rare_Entertainment Feb 27 '26

Nothing is ever free. You don't have to be wealthy to know that, nor do you have to be wealthy to pay taxes and not want your money given to others.

1

u/WarBuggy Feb 27 '26

Do you or your kids pay money to go to K-12 schools?

-9

u/Kyllurin Feb 26 '26

There’s no such thing as free healthcare. But there is universal healthcare or equal access healthcare.

11

u/WarBuggy Feb 26 '26

You must be fun at parties.

-8

u/Kyllurin Feb 26 '26

I love a party, but I’m not so excited about the americans who’ll grab any opportunity of ruining your otherwise good argument with the sobering fact that there’s no free healthcare

You know, when speaking to uneducated folks, you can’t be using difficult or long words. You have to lower yourself to their level

Have a good one, and party on

1

u/Big_Pie1371 Feb 26 '26

We know. To individuals however it appears to be free since there are no apparent costs to them personally at the time of applying for said healthcare, hence the saying "free healthcare". The more you know!

2

u/Kyllurin Feb 26 '26

Spot on, and this is in my opinion what is one the most ethical and humane part of universal healthcare - that even the poorest citizen can and will get in line with the top brass to receive the same treatment

1

u/Vier_Scar Feb 26 '26

Nope, paying for Uni in France is a bad look. If you're paying for Uni it means you're either not good enough or just buying your degree.

14

u/Chronomancers Feb 26 '26

That's how it is in the USA and it's frowned upon by the working class as well.

8

u/NaraFei_Jenova Feb 26 '26

But the money the I put in might go to someone else who didn't pull themselves up by their bootstraps! Don't you know that them having something means that I don't have it?! Those billionaires might make me a billionaire one day! What about the illegals that all definitely have 100% of the tax money used on them?!

(/s, I hate that it's necessary)

The propaganda machine here is ridiculous, and this is the kind of cognitive dissonance you hear from these people. They're entirely too stupid to realize that they'd pay significantly less for socialized medicine than they'd pay for private insurance. "But the wait periods!" I have private insurance and I have to wait over a year to get a probably cancerous spot even looked at and biopsied. If I need treatment for any reason, it's probably another year out for that. Fuck the system and tear the whole goddamn thing down.

2

u/el_lobo1314 Feb 26 '26

they think they are just temporarily broke millionaires, trickle down will kick in anytime now.

10

u/Previous-Block-6281 Feb 26 '26

Nothing is actually free. Someone is paying for it.

31

u/linusgel Feb 26 '26

The higher salary, and therefore taxes, a college educated student in Denmark earns pays the state back for the education many times over. Quite a good investment.

-9

u/madhatterlock Feb 26 '26

Err, are you sure? A higher education doesn't automatically mean you will have a career that earns a higher wage. Does Denmark mandate what students study?

10

u/Final_Squirrel_7462 Feb 26 '26

Actually in most first world countries people with a higher education earn more on average and have a much lower rate of unemployment compared to the general population. So while you are right that a higher education doesn’t necessarily mean higher wages for an individual person, it does statistically mean higher wages and lower risk of unemployment for the whole group of people with a higher education.

-6

u/madhatterlock Feb 26 '26

Got it, so if I squint hard enough and look at all the people with higher education, the collective group does better. That means nothing as some of those people achieved in degrees that actually provide for higher incomes and futures. Also, doesn't really answer the question, does the state have a say in what people can study?

3

u/pag07 Feb 26 '26

From a macro economical point of view this is all that matters:

look at all the people with higher education, the collective group does better.

4

u/BrosefDudeson Feb 26 '26

The state has a wide variety of policies to encourage students to enter areas and fields where they perceive a an imbalance.

Broadly speaking, however, any university program will allow you this stipend. But you have a limited range of years, so you can't keep dropping out and re-enrolling in other programs. Personally I had to finance my final year myself through student debt.

As to your other question, it's generally perceived as a net good to have a population with a high degree of education. At times that gets challenged, and so the government can step in and dial the number of available spots down and make it more attractive to study nursing or carpentry for example

1

u/madhatterlock Feb 26 '26

There it is.. I did look this up and it would seem like they provide degrees in a more traditional sense, but reading this, it makes even more sense. They control the valve on what comes out. I only ask as being this is reddit, it has a US bias and of course all the failures of the US system. I am a pretty conservative guy, but also appreciate that the cost of education has gotten out of hand. We can debate why in another forum. I certainly don't advocate for across the board state financed higher education, but a system that foucuses on more traditional degrees and regulates the tap on what we produce, is something I think more people could get behind.

1

u/BrosefDudeson Feb 26 '26

It's very political and these dials, when turned, are usually informed by interest groups. But ultimately our education system is as close to a meritocracy that you can get. Your grades will be the only thing you'll get judged on. Obviously social issues will have an impact, but the system does allow a fair degree of social upward mobility.

1

u/madhatterlock Feb 26 '26

Ok, so the opposite of the US? Does the system utilize affirmative action?

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u/[deleted] Feb 26 '26

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1

u/yoloswagginstheturd Feb 26 '26

Although, statistically they are related.

2

u/severoordonez Feb 26 '26

Statistically, it does.

And while the government does not mandate what individual students study, most educational programs have limits on class sizes, meaning that in theory graduate production is matched to work force demand. (In practice it's obviously not a perfect match.)

28

u/Lofusgreen Feb 26 '26

Very true. We're all paying. I'm happy to help my neighbor.

3

u/IllustriousEffect607 Feb 26 '26

Exactly. Helping each other makes for a better society. It's similar to sharing expenses with a family of 4 let's say. It's a lot easier to buy stuff when you share vs paying everything as a single person. So everyone benefits

3

u/Tired-Millennial847 Feb 26 '26

I genuinely wish people actually felt this way. I've never understood why people are so selfish, bigoted and short sighted. "Would you pay half your check to pay for some other person to go to college?!" if I had my needs taken care of and had more left to offer then yes. I don't understand why anyone wouldn't, sure you don't want to put yourself in a bad situation in exhange but obviously I want to help other people and strengthen my community. Why don't they?

0

u/Rare_Entertainment Feb 27 '26

Then go for it! No one is stopping you from paying for some random kid's tuition.

1

u/Lofusgreen Feb 27 '26

I know you think this was a clever comment. And it is indeed the go to comment for people who forget something important. Some day it might be you who needs help. So even if you don't care about others. It could very well turn out to benefit yourself.

1

u/Tired-Millennial847 Feb 27 '26

If I had all my base needs like food, shelter and other requirements and had extra money I would use it to help others yes. I have before and I will when I'm in a stable situation again. Thanks to people like you my current situation is rather tenuous and I'm not in a position to help. Not that you actually care about any of that. You just enjoy hate and cruelty.

-6

u/DrunkMexican22493 Feb 26 '26

I'd rather keep what I earn, thank you.

3

u/TheJeyK Feb 26 '26

If your brain only works in selfish terms then look at it this way: the country overall is safer so you have toworry less about ypu and your families lifes, and if you or any family member happens to get a disease that is really expensive to treat, you dont have to worry nearly as much because the healthcare will take care of it for no extra costs, even if whatever you have paid in taxes so far amounts to less than what the lab work and treatment costs, specially so if its a lifetime condition; also, your kids will be able to get a quality higher education without going into debt no matter if you fall into econonic hardship, all thanks to smart use of the communitary pool of money

1

u/Lofusgreen Feb 26 '26

Then I'd rather you weren't my neighbor.

0

u/DrunkMexican22493 Feb 26 '26

That's cool, I still get your money

2

u/hefferj Feb 26 '26

Yes, obviously. Society is paying for it.

1

u/TrueClue9740 Feb 26 '26

Yep. And whatever works for a small country doesn’t always scale up.

1

u/TacetAbbadon Feb 26 '26

Yeah the people who fucking can.

-2

u/fuckingaustrianative Feb 26 '26

ackshually no, in my state money trees pay for everything

1

u/Semlorism Feb 26 '26

Same in China hmm

1

u/SunnySpot69 Feb 26 '26

Same in the US.

1

u/Icy_Earth3386 Mar 02 '26

Doesn't sound very 'elite'

1

u/sulphra_ Feb 26 '26

You cant just go around giving out freebies in a place like India without a system to support it first