The US spends about twice as much per student on tertiary education as Europe does.
Unresolvable The public record could not settle it.
Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?
What would count as true or false
Test the ratio of US spending to European spending per tertiary student, using the most recent comparable data available on 2020-03-19. The standard measure is OECD Education at a Glance (2019 edition or close to it): annual expenditure on tertiary educational institutions per full-time-equivalent student, in USD PPP, for the US against the EU average or the European OECD countries' average. Use the headline figure, which includes R&D. If the ratio with R&D excluded gives a different verdict, note it, but the headline figure governs. The claim says '2X', so treat it as approximate. True: the ratio is between about 1.75 and 2.25. Mostly true: the ratio is between 1.5 and 1.75, or between 2.25 and 2.6. Mixed: the ratio falls in those bands on one standard measure or European benchmark but not on another. Mostly false: the ratio is between 1.25 and 1.5, or above 2.6. False: the ratio is below 1.25, meaning spending is roughly equal or Europe spends more. The rest of the quote, about the employer's fees and 'unnecessary' years, is opinion and is not tested.
Set before the research began.
Evidence (1)
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E1 Education at a Glance 2019: Putting U.S. Data in a Global Context Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of Education · 10 September 2019
“The United States spent $30,165 per higher education student in 2017, the second-highest amount after Luxembourg and nearly double the OECD average ($15,556).”
Reasoning
E1 (IES, citing OECD Education at a Glance 2019) reports that the US spent $30,165 per higher education student in 2017, "nearly double the OECD average ($15,556)". That is a ratio of about 1.94. However, the criteria require a comparison with the EU average or the European OECD countries' average. The OECD-wide average also includes non-European members, and no European benchmark figure appears in the evidence. The ratio to the OECD average falls within the 'true' band, but the evidence does not give the European figure the criteria name, so the claim cannot be settled as written.
Cite this claim
Steven Pinker, “The US spends about twice as much per student on tertiary education as Europe does.” (said 19 March 2020). Verdict: unresolvable. Reliability API, claim c_556a6a4acf96, method 0.1.0+28da144b, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_556a6a4acf96
This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.
Reply to this claim
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Verdicts are made automatically; how verdicts are made.