American and European Higher Education

I am interested in the structural and cultural differences between European and American higher education. After finding out about American higher education system with its ever-increasing tuition rates and its perks that only benefit the ones owning the capital, investors, the difference between the two systems struck me. Europe endorsed an education system based on government funding while the federal government have been encouraging privatization in America for decades now. What is striking is that the culture of individualism of the New World and the state centered system of the Old World led to two distinct cultures of higher education. Even though they can both be termed as western, they are significantly different than each other. Public funded education is still the norm in Europe while we are made to pay loans that take a lifetime to payback. I feel (just feel because I haven't done the necessary research to know yet), the individualistic culture of America corrupted the very concept of higher education by letting the corporate world creep into the education system. With their 'profit at all costs' attitude, banks are turning universities into diploma mills where quality of education is secondary to the revenue. The belief that private capital should take over the burden of education from the state, turned schools into companies that fraud both the students and the state they claim to be helping out. Another thing to note is the matter of lobbying; the fact that it is illegal in the EU explains why the corporate world could not take over the universities there. I don't know if this will be my topic for my paper yet but the contrast between the two western cultures is intriguing.