The OECD's latest Education at a Glance report has found that the United States has the highest tuition fees in the world. OECD countries tend to have different approaches to financing a university education with many nations joining the U.S. in charging tuition fees and around a third not charging any fee at bachelor or equivalent level.

An average annual fee at a U.S. public institution amounts to approximately $8,200, though most students do benefit from financial support in the form of loans or scholarships. As costly as the fees at public institutions are, private colleges and universities are far more expensive, costing nearly two and a half times as much.

As well as the United States, Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan and South Korea all have tuition fees in excess of $4000. Chile had the second highest bachelor level fees in the OECD's report at $7,654 a year while Japan came third highest at $5,229. Countries in southern Europe like Spain, Italy and Portugal all tended to have far lower fees by comparison.