Double or triple tuition fees, and they'd still be on a level with the Dutch ones, less than half of the British ones and nothing compared to American ones. Extend the scholarships to keep the price the same for those who need it, if need be. But really, this "higher education needs to be free" thing is nonsense. If the working class people don't get to university, it really isn't because of the money, it's because our secondary education system evidently isn't good enough at getting the deserving among those people in the university-aimed tracks, because somehow they are discouraged from university studies. When I'm discussing topics like this, I suddenly find myself longing for that American dream concept that I otherwise tend to be rather sceptical about.

Some figures for you to explain the problem: most university studies in Flanders (not sure about Walloon data) have pass rates of about 50% in the first year; most of the 50% who fail will eventually get their degree with one or more years delay, but a significant amount doesn't. Of course, high failure rates in the first year is, one might argue, a necessity in a country where universities accept every student who wishes to enroll provided he has a secondary school certificate (which is one reason why I advocate entrance exams like our medicine schools have, the main reason why the pass rate is so much higher there), but it's still an enormous waste of taxpayer money.

How did this go from a post about Estonia to a post about me giving my opinion on a myriad of Belgian issues?