"Americans seem to accept this as a given, an unfortunate truth: it costs money to go to college, and if your parents don't have the money, and you don't graduate at the top of your class, you will take on a load of debt to earn that degree that is increasingly necessary to get a good job," writes Jennie Smith in the Examiner. "They often do not realize that it is not like that everywhere. In most of Europe, public universities are free. In France, for example, you must pass the rigorous baccalaureate exams at the end of high school in order to be accepted to a university; but if you pass them, you may attend any public university in the country, with the exception of the more exclusive grandes ecoles that accept only the highest scorers, for free. It is considered a right, the same as free elementary and secondary schools, the same as free health care. It is the same in Italy, as in most European countries."