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can receive special relationships of SKr10,750 per year. Together with ordinary grants and loans, they provide the student with an annual tax-free income of almost SKr20,000 per year. In addition, students in higher education receive indirect benefits, including health care at state subsidized health services, low-cost housing in student housing facilities, reduced transportation costs, low-cost meals at government-subsidized student restaurants, and low-cost merchandise at shopping centers run by student unions.
c. Extracurricular student activity
As in other northwest European societies, organized extracurricular student activities at the secondary level are somewhat more in evidence than in the Latin countries to the south. They are not, however, pursued on the scale of their U.S. counterparts—which are probably unique in the free world—and may be organized by the village or town authorities, rather than specifically by the schools. As in other Teutonic societies, team sports, as opposed to individual sports, enjoy popularity, and ski and hiking clubs, choral groups, and various hobby organizations are in evidence. But the high school bands, drama clubs, and even debating societies, so much a party of the U.S. scene, are less in evidence.
At the university level students still associate in "student nations," comparable to the traditional German fraternities (although hardly devoted to fencing) or U.S. fraternities and sororities, except that most are coeducational. These nations are rooted in the Germanic past. In the large metropolitan university, their principal function is to bring together socially those students from the same local area or province. Each nation has its own "house" or meeting place, comparable to the U.S. fraternity of eating club, where the students meet for conversation and occasional dancing, choral singing, or other group activity.
As is the case throughout free Europe, students organize to protest and to try to advance their special interests. In Sweden, membership in the one umbrella Swedish Union of Students (SFS) is mandatory. The SFS has succeeded, as of late 1972, in pursing student interests inside rather than outside of the establishment. Although student participation in decision making in the universities was relatively limited before the launching of the period of experimentation with student democracy in 1969/70, the SFS has long had considerable influence with governmental bodies concerned with higher education and has maintained good relations with them. It is represented on many of the special committees set up to study particular problems, and it is consulted on all government proposals for change affecting student interests. Membership in the SFS is normally attained simply by joining the component student union at the university or institute where one is enrolled. Neither the individual unions nor the SFS receives government financial support for their activities, so all costs must be met by dues. The SFS annual income from student fees is about SKr16.5 million. The individual unions are entirely self-governing and are in no way subject to control by school officials. Each student union represents the student body before the faculty, public authorities, and other organizations. The SFS represents the various unions nationally.
d. Adult education
Close to one-fourth of Sweden's population is enrolled in some form of adult education. One distinctively Scandinavian institution which has long played an important role in adult education is the folk high school (folkhogskolar). Imported from Denmark, where it was developed by Bishop Nicolai F.S. Grundtvig and Kristen Kold, the folk high school arrived in Sweden in 1868. Its purpose is to provide a sense of national community and general cultural awareness—to make, in essence, better free citizens. Curricular emphasis is not on vocational training, although such training is included. The schools attempt to round out the students' general education in such subjects as Swedish, arithmetic, civics, history, geography, bookkeeping, and religious values, while also employing lessons, lectures, and study groups to help "develop character" and give the students a deeper understanding of their environment and community. In 1970 there were 105 folk high schools plus 12 affiliates throughout the country. About half of the schools are operated by provincial councils and the remainder by different popular movements and organizations, such as the trade unions, temperance societies, and churches. The minimum age of eligibility is 18 years. Instruction is usually given in residence and is free, although the students must pay for board and lodging. Many of the students hold scholarships from municipalities and organizations, however, while other financial aid is available in the form of small state stipends. The folk high schools were voted appropriations of SKr76.8 million in the FY71 government budget. Three different kinds of courses are offered: winter, summer, and special subjects. The winter course, running from 2 to 3 years, commands the largest enrollments, with about 13,500 students in the 1969/70 academic year. About 7,000
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