Come here! Come here! We have just raised the prices!

The Ministry of Education is planning to set tuition fees for foreign students. The sums have not been decided on yet, but the sums between 3500 and 9500 euros per semester were suggested.

The real fun was the reasoning behind it. As Helsingin Sanomat put it: "Maksut liittyvät tavoitteisiin lisätä korkeakoulutuksen kansainvälistymistä. Esimerkiksi ulkomaisten tutkinto-opiskelijoiden määrä on tarkoitus kaksinkertaistaa." (Basically, they want to start charging fees from foreign students in order to make Finnish education more international and attract twice as many foreign degree students as they have now.) You see, as soon as the foreign students hear that now we charge for the education, they will all rush here. Sure thing. Raising prices will get us many new and enthusiastic students. And war is peace. And freedom is slavery. And arbeit macht frei. And Islam is a religion of peace. And your hair will become longer faster if you trim it regularly. And eating a lot of chocolate will make you lose weight.