BUSINESS INSIDER: Brazil has tuition-free college — but it comes with a catch

Career College Central Summary:

When American politicians laud free college plans overseas, they tend to identify European countries, such as Germany or Sweden, as noteworthy examples.
Not as commonly discussed, Brazil also offers free college to its citizens, and its free colleges are actually more prestigious than the private institutions that charge tuition.
Brazil's public colleges, known as federal universities, offer tuition-free education to admitted students. However, the majority of students who are accepted into the free universities are predominantly middle-class or wealthy students, in essence the students who can already afford to pay for college.
“I would have preferred a public university, but the entrance exams are very competitive," Claudinei Mota, a Brazilian college student, told The New York Times in 2014. "Most spots go to private school graduates, who are better prepared.”
Millions of Brazilian students fight for spots at top-tier federal universities, but they are normally edged out by wealthy students whose families have the money to send them to a private high school.

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