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Student debt isn't as prevalent in South America as it is in the US, but that doesn't mean it isn't a problem for some millennials.
In 2020, Insider reported that nearly 45% of US millennials had student-loan debt. As of June 2022, 43.5% of US millennials aged 36 to 41 had a student-debt balance of $20,000 or less, according to the St. Louis Fed.
In South America, fewer people attend college than in the US. As of 2018, 28% of 25- to 34-year-olds in the US had received a bachelor's degree, compared to 17% in Brazil, 20% in Argentina, and 23% in Colombia, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD.
Most students in these countries don't go on to pursue master's degrees either, which can often come with big student-debt burdens. As of 2018, roughly 1% of 25- to 64-year-olds in Brazil and Argentina had received master's degrees, compared to 11% of 25- to 34-year-olds in the US.
For those who did attend college, most found themselves with lower tuition costs than their US counterparts.
In Brazil and Argentina, education at public universities is tuition-free. In 2021, Colombia announced that tuition would be free for 97% of all students attending public colleges and technical schools.
Tuition for private colleges in Brazil and Argentina typically ranges between $2,000 and $10,000 per academic year, according to some estimates. In the US, the average cost of tuition and fees is roughly $40,000 per year, compared to $23,000 for a public out-of-state school and $10,000 for a public in-state school.
But lower college tuition doesn't mean everyone in these countries is happy with the education system. As of 2019, three-quarters of bachelor's students in Brazil attended paid-for private universities, because while the country's public colleges are free, they're also very competitive and have limited slots. As of 2015, the majority of students accepted into these schools were from the middle class or higher, Insider reported — the types of students least in need of tuition-free education.
Less well-off students in Brazil have been left to take on student debt to afford to attend the less-prestigious private schools. And while they could pursue a career without a college degree, the job landscape isn't in their favor. According to a 2011 study, Brazilians who received tertiary education earned an average of 2.5 times more than those who did not, a bigger gap than any other country in the OECD at that time. In the United States, families of those with a bachelor's degree earned twice that of those without, according to a St. Louis Fed analysis of 2016 data.