There is nothing illogical about the last option, but it is unsustainable in most countries, not least because of competing fiscal pressures connected with population ageing (see Barr and Diamond 2008), advances in medical care, and increased international competitive pressures (‘globalisation’). Thus, the only realistic way of achieving all three objectives is to supplement public finance with private finance. The scale of the task should not be underestimated. In South Korea, the participation rate in tertiary education is 82 per cent; total spending on tertiary education is 2.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP)—double the average for the EU19 of 1.3 per cent; and private spending on tertiary education is significantly higher than total (public plus private) spending in any Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) country except the United States and Canada (OECD 2006:Table B2.1b; all figures for 2003).