alt Hacker News>I've lived in other countries, and one of the nice things about the US is how uncompetitive school is. One could (and likely still can) get into a decent "average" university without much difficulty. In other countries, not so. You could be in the top 10% academically and end up in a really low quality university. I would understand playing such games there.
The difference is you're going to pay nosebleed prices or take out extortionate student loans in the US.
Yes, but you get to go. In plenty of other countries, there are far fewer seats than students graduating from high school. Being merely above average means no college degree.
(Well, except they also have private schools, but the cost to income ratio is much higher there than here).