Blog 2: Ability or Social Status

Having the opportunity to tour ENA in Meknes helped further shape how I understand educational opportunity. I now see that access to higher education depends on two things: how affordable it is, and how many seats are available. The United States and Morocco differ on both, and ENA Meknes showed me why that matters. ENA is a small, specialized school that admits only a limited number of students each year. Because the cohort is small, getting in is difficult regardless of how qualified an applicant is. In the United States, applying to college feels like a normal step that most students expect to take, so I had assumed that any motivated, capable student could find a place somewhere. My time in Meknes showed me that this is not true when a school is small by design. In that situation, the limit is not how many students want to attend, but how few spots exist.

The enrollment data supports this. In 2022, the United States had a gross tertiary enrollment ratio of about 79%, while Morocco's was about 48% in 2024 (World Bank, 2024). This means a much larger share of college-age Americans enroll in higher education than college-age Moroccans do. Morocco's number is not low because the country is standing still, its higher education system has grown quickly, from fewer than 300,000 students in 2000 to more than 1.35 million by 2022. Even with that rapid growth, the system still reaches a smaller portion of the population than the American one. The point is that a system can expand fast and still remain highly selective. It is also worth considering that this gap may reflect differences in each country's economy rather than the education system alone. Morocco has a large agricultural sector and many family-run businesses, and a significant share of young people may enter that work directly instead of pursuing a university degree. In those cases, a lower enrollment rate is not only a matter of limited access but also of different economic paths, where working on a family farm or in a family business is a common and valued alternative to higher education.

This comparison is complicated, because low cost and broad access are not the same thing, and each system carries different barriers. Tuition and living expenses in Morocco are far lower than in the United States, but a school like ENA Meknes limits admission through competitive entrance exams and a fixed number of seats, so the main obstacle is selectivity. The American system has more seats, but the cost of attending remains an extremely heavy burden. Recent initiatives have tried to ease this financial disparity, and while the problem is far from solved, my time at ENA Meknes ultimately left me deeply grateful for the opportunity I have to attend college in the United States, and more aware that this chance is a privilege I should not take for granted.

World Bank. (2024). School enrollment, tertiary (% gross) [Data set]. World Bank Open Data. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.TER.ENRR