by Rod Hughes

Private universities here graduated almost twice as many students as public higher education institutions last year, reports La Nacion, the country’s largest newspaper. In 2007, public universities graduated only 11,370 students contrasted against 19,876 in private colleges.

The central government’s budgetary bind has meant that financial backing for public higher education had to be curtailed to only an adjustment for inflation, amid bitter complaints by university rectors. But the number of private university graduates is a tribute to the high value Costa Rican parents place on education, certainly a sacrifice for them since enrollment and numerous extra fees make private education expensive in colon terms.

Certainly, compared with soaring education costs in the United States, Costa Rican private universities are bargains. But local private students get a savings in time, if not in tuition. They can get a BA in three years, since many private institutions waive requisites that do not pertain directly to the the subject being studied. Public officials feel their graduates are more well-rounded and benefit from the broader view of the world.

As we reported in an earlier article, the four public universities this year had to turn away 48,000 students clammering for entrance. University of Costa Rica, National University, Costa Rican Technological Institute and University at a Distance can hold only 60,000 students while the National Council of Private Higher Education estimates that private institutions can accommodate twice that number.

One aspect the report does not treat is that the number of graduates creates a glut in the job market in certain fields, including, surprisingly, medicine. Studies have noted that the country turns out a superabundance of young lawyers while certain technical fields beg for bilingual graduates. And some doctors unlucky in the lottery that allows them to work for the Social Security Administration (Caja) find themselves working in the private sector for slave wages or at jobs unrelated to medicine.