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<title> Why students should be given grants - not loans </title>
To students money is of great importance, and in order to finance their studies at the university they must either have savings of their own or take loans - and by taking loans they commit theirselves to the life-long work of repaying them. But if this was to be changed and students were to be given grants from the state government instead of loans, I believe that it would lead to great social improvments. The grants would not necessarily have to be as large as the loans that are taken by the students today, but they should be sufficient enough to cover up for rent, books and some personal pleasures. 

The most obvious and important reason to why students should be given grants is because it would give everybody - wealthy people as well as poor - a chance to further education. In today's society the numbers of applications to the universities are decreasing, while at the same time the differences between social classes are increasing. This shows that fewer young people can afford studying at a university and instead a lot of them choose a low-salary work, which does not require any education. I believe that the prospect of future / life-long repayments is frightening to a lot of people and therefor they do not continue their educations. For many people this is the question of fullfilling their dream or not. In a democratic country like Sweden, the question of equal opportunity to education is of fundamental character. 

A second and important reason is that a lot of professions in today's society require many years of studies at a university. This means that huge loans must be taken - and repayed after the studies are finished. In the future this may lead to difficulties in the society such as: Fewer applicants for these professions - which leads to a substantial lack of skilled labour. Those who finish their studies may feel the need to repay their debts "as quickly as possible" and therefore overwork themselves, with stress and illnesses as result. 

A third reason why students should be given grants is that it would give them the opportunity to try different educations at the university in order to find out which education that fits them the best. That is, of course, possible today but the huge expenses associated with studying a few terms at each different education might be frightening, so instead many students apply for an education which they believe is "the right one" and continue with that one even though perhaps it was not the right one. 

When reading this essay, one might argue that these grants would be just another great expense for the government, and of course that goes without saying. But when considering the consequenses of "free" education and the equal opportunity for everybody to further education, I regard this expense as one well worth. One of the problems that may appear is that more foreign students would apply for Swedish universities (because of the "free" studies), which would lead to harder competition for Swedish students. But this could easily be regulated by some sort of legislation that would permit only Swedish students these grants. Another aspect of this is, that an increasing number of foreign students would provide Swedish universities with a greater exchange of different cultures, languages and ideas. Another problem could be that of students who tend to study their whole life (by changing courses and classes) and never reach an exam in order to enter working life. But this could also be regulated by legislation which limited the number of years studying at a university. 

As for the conclusion, I would like to point out the fact that everybody should have the same opportunity to further education. In the society of today everyone is permitted to apply to the university, but the expenses that are associated with these studies make a lot of people hesitate. I believe that the only way to ensure an educational system of equal opportunity is to ensure state funded grants.
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