'I'm a UK student in the US - the educational system couldn't be more different'
A student at Imperial College London has shared the stark differences between the UK and US's educational system after attending a college football game. In a TikTok video, James Edward films himself watching a University of Notre Dame vs. Ohio State game. The 21-year-old model claimed he enjoys the American college system because of its scholarship schemes, which allow some students to attend university for free.
Many TikTok followers commenting on @james____edward's video, pointed out that students who pay tuition in the US wind up paying substantially more than their British counterparts because rates in the US are far more than £9,000 per year. People on both sides of the Atlantic expressed horror at how other students lived and how institutions are operated.
American viewers, in particular, were surprised at the UK's comparatively low tuition fees. At the start of his video, James said his first realisation since moving across the pond to study was that sports scholarships allow many kids to attend university for free. Walking past a sports field, he says: “Every single person on this pitch right now isn't paying a single penny to be at university.
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“And it's not just that they're not paying to go to university, they're genuinely getting free accommodation, free food. Everything is covered.” However, the student revealed that if you do not play sports and got a scholarship, US university will most certainly cost you a fortune. He estimates the average cost of tuition fees in the US is $60,000 (£49,204).
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“It's insane,” he says. “The amount of money you have to pay to go to university in America if you're not an athlete is genuinely crazy.” “Whereas in the UK, absolutely everyone just pays their nine grand and gets about their business. It's kind of just the same for everyone”.
In the next post, James appears in a sports field which is packed full of people ahead of an event. He explains that the excitement is due to a college football game taking place in the evening - but the occasion is so anticipated that people have arrived to drink and get the celebration started 10 hours before kick-off.
“Don't get me wrong, in the UK we love a drink,” he says. “[But] people have literally been tailgating and drinking since like 7 this morning”. He emphasises that the game in question is not a particularly important fixture like a cup final - rather, it's a standard Saturday league game.
James points out the pride that American students have in the institutions where they study. “I have seen people with statues on their lawn of their university logo or hedges cut into their university logo, it's crazy,” he reveals. James admits that British students are proud of their colleges, but the degree of that pride tends to be more among American students.
“Americans absolutely love to wear a bit of university merch,” he says. Both British and American viewers expressed amazement at how different the university experience is on the opposite side of the Atlantic. One person from the UK wrote: 'I can’t imagine someone walking around with a University of Coventry shirt.'
Another person, based in the US, asked: 'Is Uni in the UK £9,000 a year or for the entire program? How long is it and what are the levels?' “By UK he means England because in Scotland university is free,” another added.
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