Somehow European countries pull it off without bankrupting themselves.

In most cases higher education is to some extent "rationed" and generally less accessible than in the US. Only a few countries in Europe have more University graduates. Which is of course perfectly rational if you have no ideological objects to some degree of centralized planning.

Indeed, but not without tradeoffs, including:

- accepting fewer students (having strict requirements).

- failing students out in early classes (fewer opportunities to retake classes).

- more professionally focused and shorter curriculum.

- less class and subject choices

- the degree commanding significantly less earnings

For whatever reason, the best students seem to end up at a few top European schools (like Oxford) or go to the US.

Oxford (like Harvard) is often less about what you'll know and more about WHO you'll know.

At the undergrad level, the subject matter is generally very well-established. But when you want a job after graduation, being close friends with the CEO's child helps far more than a few tenths of a point on your GPA.

Legacy admissions and nepotism are still very much a thing.

It helps when we subsidize their military budget and their drug development costs like the status quo.

If America disappeared, Europe would look a lot less socialist