Free Education for ALL in Germany?!

University of Bonn

Photo By: Thomas Mauersberg

"Want to attend college for free? It can happen if you learn German.

All German universities are now free to Americans and all other international students. The last German state to charge tuition at its universities struck down the fees this week.

Even before Germany abolished college tuition for all students, the price was a steal. Typically semester fees were around $630. What’s more, German students receive many perks including discounts for food, clothing and events, as well as inexpensive or even free transportation.

In explaining why Germany made this move, Dorothee Stapelfeldt, a Hamburg senator, called tuition fees “unjust” and added that “they discourage young people who do not have a traditional academic family background from taking up study. It is a core task of politics to ensure that young women and men can study with a high quality standard free of charge in Germany.”

Actually, German universities were free up until 2006 when they started charging tuition. That triggered such a crush of criticism that German states began phasing out this policy. Lower Saxony was the last holdout.

It’s too bad that politicians in the U.S. don’t feel that a college education is worth supporting appropriately. State aid to the nation’s public universities took a nosedive during the 2008 recession and education funding remains well below those levels. The average state is spending 23 percent less per student than before the recession, according to a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Actually, state support has been declining for public universities for a quarter of a century. Using an interactive tool from The Chronicle of Higher Education, you can see how state government subsidies have cratered at individual institutions.

With the average undergrad borrower now leaving school with more than $29,000 in debt, the free ride in Germany can look awfully tempting.

How to handle the language barrier:
German is not an easy language to learn. Fortunately, however, there are international language programs in Germany, which have become very popular with international students before they tackle obtaining a degree in a different language.

What’s more, an increasing number of German universities are offering degrees in English. These are often called international studies programs or in some other way have the word international in their title."
http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/2014/10/03/german-colleges—free-degrees—americans/16658027/

After reading this, I truly realized how little North American (USA & Canada) governments care about our educational progression. It's also quite funny how people used to come to (North) America to find a better life; now we're doing the opposite an going (back) to Europe to make a better life for ourselves and our future generations. Thank-you to thinksquad for the write up. 

Redit user Alechs lays out the good AND bad about perusing university in Germany:

Here is the good news:

1. German universities are tuition-free for everyone. There is no law that makes it free for Americans. It is free for Chinese students, too, for example.
2. Some guy said that you have to pay other tuitions. That is not really true. You just have to pay $100 administrative fee to get a visa. The other "tuitions" are actually great deals for students. For about $400 a year (!), you get a ticket for all public transport systems in the region (non students have to pay about $2000 for the same thing). You also have to pay about $100 a month for health care. This covers every health care you need. From a flue to open heart surgery... You do not have to pay additional.

Here are the bad news:

1. You have to learn German. In the master program, most good universities offer a lot of English courses. This is enough to study one year in Germany to get some credits as part of your study in the US. It is not enough to get a degree in a German universities. If you learn full time, you can learn German in one year to get on a level to study in a German university. There are full time courses in Germany. They are about $10.000. After such a course, you should be able to speak German well enough to follow most of the lectures and to have normal conversations.
2. I guess for most Americans, it is only interesting to study some kind of STEM in Germany (I mean, German civil law is mostly useless in the US). Keep in mind that the drop out rate is huge. In good universities, it is close to 50-50: Almost half of the students drop out before they have a degree. This is kinda related to the next point...
3. Learning culture in German universities is very different to the US. It is well known that students learn more if the lectures are interactive and with much student participation. However, German universities deliberately don't do this. The philosophy in German universities is: You are here to learn how to organize, learn and plan on your own. It is often possible to show up only to the exams. Some people like this. Some people (who need an ass kicking to learn) get problems because of this. This is also why the drop out rate is so high.
   However, there are "Fachhochschulen" (Colleges) in Germany. German colleges are much more practical and more like school than German universities. If you think you would like it if the lecturer actually knows your name, colleges are for you. But the high end stuff, you learn only in universities. You can get a master degree in a German college. You can not get a Ph.D.

Would you consider moving to Germany because of this? Let me know in the comments.