Germany made headlines a few weeks back when it had the unmitigated gall to condemn its student population to a life of non-Ramen Noodles and non-debt when abolished college tuition fees. But now you can really blast that techno music as it seems all German universities are free to Americans as well.
But before American kids start pretending to give a crap about Octoberfest and minoring in David Hasselhoff, they must learn German in order to attend. As long as it’s not 1939-1945 German, then that’s one hell of a deal.
Last week, the final German State (Laender) to charge tuition ended the practice, allowing all income groups a shot at bettering themselves without the onerous burden of spirit-crushing debt. According to Dorothee Stapelfeldt, a Hamburg senator, tuition fees were simply unjust. I guess Dorothee Stapelfeldt is german for ‘corporations are not people’.
‘Tuition fees 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,’ said Stapelfeldt (WTSP.com)
It should probably be noted that Germany offered free tuition until 2006. That move triggered so much rancor that the German states began abolishing the policy. In America, schoolkids can get murdered and policies don’t budge.
How Germany Funds Education Is Quite Different From The US
Just in case you were curious how Germany can offer free tuition, it’s crucial to understand how Germany funds its education.
From theconversation.com:
First, Germany is a federal country with 16 autonomous states responsible for education, higher education and cultural affairs. Second, the German higher education system – consisting of 379 higher education institutions with about 2.4m students – is a public system which is publicly funded. There are a number of small private institutions but they enroll less than 5% of the total student body.
Meanwhile, America has the most expensive education on the planet and the average student debt is upwards of $29,000. That state funding in 2011-201 for public universities in America dropped by a whopping 7.6 percent explains why so many students have to borrow in the first place. Even in low-cost tuition countries, such as Spain and France, the amounts are considerably lower than what American universities charge.
America, however, will sooner offer free guns and “Truck Nutz” than anything that might actually better the lives of its lesser-off citizenry.
Featured image via Hellogiggles.com)
Does Germany want more people in their country as their main goal for doing this?
May be. What’s wrong in that ? Pretty sharp thinking. Smart ones win. They will get educated and productive people and so, enrich their nation. Problem is, sooner than we think we will be left over with leftovers if we don’t watch out
I figure it’s comparable to people from other nations moving to the United States for “better opportunities”. I’d move to Germany, or any other socialist nation, for the chance of bettering my and my future children’s lives. It’s not so much about increasing population size as attracting new citizens who have similar political ideas and priorities. Leaving your home nation for another that has politics and priorities that match your own is actually a pretty practical thing. No matter where you live or what you believe you will always have to pay taxes, wouldn’t you prefer to finance a government that you actually stand by morally? I’d wager that Germanys main goal here is offering it’s citizens and people in general an affordable education. An educated population reduces poverty, among other things, which in turn reduces the amount of money put into social services. It’s a win-win and if you attract new citizens who are well educated and have similar political opinions how can you go wrong?
Where do I get the ” free guns and truck nuts” the author speaks about? I want some of that
…it hasn’t gotten to that point yet but stay tuned it could very soon.
This was an interesting article, other than it’s lame attempt at jokes.
The Frei Universität in Berlin has several Master degree programs all taught in English.
do you know if they offer MBA’s I actually have been looking into this, the past three months. Firstly, the MBA programs are only a year compared to ones here in America which are 2+ years. And the offer a GLOBAL perspective in the world of development and business.
A large percentage of High-Taxpaying Germans have impeccable work ethics to pay for it. America… mmm not so much!
There work week is half of ours It even mentions this in the article
What Germany are you talking about? The one that actually exists has National Health and everyone gets six weeks vacation a year.
All designed to keep the “lesser off” community lesser off.
Do your homework before you spout off about “free stuff”
My daughter spent part of a summer studying at the Sorbonne when she was in college. leaving aside the housing and food, the price for the actual classes – per credit hour as they transferred back to the U.S. – was about 1/10th what we were paying in private college tuition. And it was not a special deal or the like. She just enrolled.
Of course not all of that difference, (which may or may not be accurate), goes to funding college educations. There’s the healthcare, better public transit… one area where most other countries get a leg up on us is by not spending such an insane amount on defense, prisons and law enforcement.
The fact is that most advanced countries, including Germany, offer baseline living support to the needy. Almost all have a much better form of universal health care than we do and they’re not being swamped with higher costs for medical treatment. Makes no difference what your income level is. The college is extra, and far above what we do in the U.S.
“lesser off”? Try “less well off.”
I lived in Germany for six months after visiting there and deciding to stay. Germany is really nice, but I missed cheddar cheese, bacon, and having access to stores 24/7. If you’re thinking about it, go for it. The people are friendly (the military is scary if you ever visit nearby countries and come back however), they have a stronger social structure, and the working week is much easier and pays more than here in the US.
Germans live on pork, so I’m not sure why you didn’t have bacon. Speck doesn’t come in pre-packages paper thin slices, try the deli counter, there you can buy it by the gram or kilo, thick or thin. Cheeses…lol Yes, they don’t like food dye in their foods. But they have awesome cheeses. Hope you tried at least one german cheese. As for shopping 24/7 yes, well German take time for family. They are not consumer addicts, that is an American addiction. Besides, Germans buy quality over quantity so there’s no need to shop 24/7.
They work to live, unlike Americans, that live to work.
Does that apply to PhD students as well?
I am currently doing research in Germany! I know foreign students doing their PhD in public universities and they get funding! And I know for sure it doesn’t matter if you don’t speak German
Totally worth learning the language!
American masses sadly are at the bottom of the barrel in education, healthcare, family values, etc.. It is easy for the uneducated non thinking to vote for the biggest idiots to lead this country - the ones who believe the lies and PR deception. That is why the US makes it so difficult to be healthy or educated.
Anyone want to teach me German haha
German really isn’t all that hard to learn, german words are usually REALLY close to english words, example, sorry means the same thing in english as it does in german, that being said their grammer is signiificantly different
Sorry, but ”sorry” is NOT a German word, it’s an ENGLISH word that is sometimes used in Germany. I’m sorry would be ”es tut mir leid” or ”entschuldigung” depending on context. It is by no means an easy language to learn. Not only the grammar but also sentence structure are different.
As I sometimes tell foreign students: Just stick to the translation of words. Grammar is not as important and easier to be learnt while speaking to native speaker.
Also native German speaker are used to deal with a lot of people from different cultures and countries that are having a hard way to learn German… so we autocorrect things like grammar in our mind.
The most difficulty you would have is letting Germans know that they should proceed speaking German to you so you learn… I am automatically attempting to switch language after figuring out that it would work to speak English 😉
The German National Budget ran a “surplus” last year……..the U.S. is still running deficits in the $billions……….no comparison!
Silly man. He writes as if free guns would be a bad thing.
Starts to? Have been doing for decades, now. That’s why such a high proportion of foreign-born doctors, and other professionals in the USA. They immigrate while smart natives have been emigrating.
…just like us.
I’m in.
All of the candidates are saying free tuition for QUALIFIED students. That doesn’t mean that just anyone who wants to go to college can.
Unfortunately, that is a bit more difficult. We do have a elementary school that is mostly indicating whether pupils should proceed in enrolling in three different types of schools - in case of a “Gesamtschule” there are still different levels within one school. One type is more difficult than another. This selection is usually done after you passed 4th grade. Though, sometimes it is allowed to switch from one level to another afterwards in some circumstances. The least difficult type (“Hauptschule”) or level is focusing more on subjects related to mechanics, social services and computer literacy. The more difficult types (“Realschule” or “Gymnasium”) focus more on higher sophisticated subjects to prepare for enrolling in universities.
If you pass the highest level (“Gymnasium”) by doing your final exam (“Abitur”) you have the “Hochschulzugangsberechtigung” that allows you to study at universities - some students might just go for an apprenticeship or a year off and decide to do something totally different afterwards.
If you missed the highest level you could still go for it and make it to the university by using a bypass of our school system sometimes referred as “Zweiter Bildungsweg”.
Either way it is the plan (of the reformation “G8”) that students are usually around 18 when finishing “Gymnasium”.
Once you got the eligibility to enrole in a course of study by having the “Hochschulzugangsberechtigung” you sometimes need a proper score on your “Abitur”. That is used for courses that are either almost overrun by students (e.g. social fields) or are just so complex you want to have the best (e.g. doctor, lawyer). While most fields are offering bachelor degrees (six up to eight semesters studying) and master degrees (ten semester studying in total) there are professions requiring more time. So you could graduate by an age around 23. Sometimes you can also enrole in a course of study of an university of applied science by just having a proper working background for some years.
There are a lot of bypasses if you do not have the permission enroling in university at first attempt.
In the end I like the German way in this case. And I guess its not just Germany doing it this way. While German universities would not allow anyone to enrole because their education and knowledge is too low and should be increased and prepared properly before attending university it seems like universities in the U.S. take everyone as long as they can pay the money no matter where they would end up. But that is maybe a general thing between federal and private institutions; government has to care about everyone everytime while private institution might decide to stop caring about someone after people stop paying sometime.
By the way, we heavily require apprenticeships in a lot of fields for maintaining a good service it is not required everywhere - I haven’t ever heard of an assembly line apprenticeship or for instance an apprenticeship for facility manager. If the profession is “protected” (for example by the chamber of trade) you are supposed to go for the apprenticeship then.
Ever been to Germany? They get living wages, and then get a huge return on that tax money. It’s clean, people are well educated, the streets are safe at night. Public transit is fantastic and there’s a real sense that everyone deserves a good quality of life. It very different from the USA.
“Tuition fees 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,”
…wait, what?
…who knew the Germans were so highly evolved? We in the US should get there in the next 100 or so years. Unless of course the republicans eliminate all programs except the military and public funding of billionaire sports complex projects.
One thing that makes Germany different is that we do not have only universities to prepare the young people for professional life. We have as well the “dual system”. That means a 3-3,5 year of professional training in a company and public school combined. This is very successful because it provides high level of expertise for each profession. The salary as a “Facharbeiter” are in many cases even higher than of people with university degrees. And if you want you can even continue later to the university.
Yes. In Germany they are much higher. Also the demands at the university. The level of qualification is very different and really much higher in Germany. Only at the level of Phd the gap is closing.
If you want to study in Germany be prepared to work really hard, specially in nature science and engineering.
Be aware that in Germany exists 2 different kind of universities: Universities and “universities of applied science” The first is for science, the later for a profession.
Just to add this much…..1939-1945 German is the same as German now apart from quite a lot of english words we use today. Its how you use the words the speak that matters and the Nazis used their German to manipulate the population of Austria and Germany and rule with ruthless force.
Use the German you have to learn in order to study here “for free” to understand this culture and see that it is about more than Oktoberfest and that David Hasselhoff is not more than a relic from the 90’s.
German education is free to everyone. That we banned tuition fees after only a few years of having them is great and the way it should be. Everyone, from any country in the world, can apply to our Universities.
Foreigners normally need a preparation year at the university before they can start their real studies. During this year they also learn German and pass some tests.
Doik sir, I do agree! Its fascinating to see how easily some can get their panties all knotted up! I never could grasp the idea of getting upset so easily over the arrangement of a few words in sentence form. Without inflection, whats the use becoming offended?
It’s just a compound word. German has many of these 🙂
That is true. It is really interesting for me as a German to use ‘type of school’ instead of ‘schooltype’. Last way combining words is used pretty often here. First way also possible but a bit more unusual.
“Hochschulzugangsberechtigung” would turn into something like ‘Permission for enrolling at university’ or ‘Universityenrollmentpermission’ … just take a deep breath sometimes and you wont choke while speaking german 😉
That is true. A 10 years old pupil does not really know about their life goals. Therefore the decision of going to one of those three type of schools depends on your marks and is not directly up to you.
Those three different type of schools afterwards then do not give pupils a big variety of subjects. So pupils or students do not even have to decide to go for a economics, art, sport or whatever else based education till they pass the 6th grade. Meaning they just get a main knowledge base - the quality of this knowledge base can vary from one state to another since teaching plans are up to the states ministries of education and cultural affairs.
Here is my story. This time i try keeping it short:
6 years old -> Elementary school (1st - 4th grade)
10 years old -> Hauptschule (5th - 7th grade)
13 years old -> Hauptschule+M-Zweig (7th grade )
it is a Bavarian thing and approximately the same level as Realschule -> two years apprenticeship at governmental school (working besides would usually require around three years)
I agree. I also think that some problems in the U.S. such as crime rate or increasing gang fights could be solved if people would have a better perspective after Highschool.
Just heard a story about Costa Rica abolishing their army some decades ago investing every single dollar in security, education and stuff. That is an interesting way to go as well. I guess German governement is trying the same here… they just forgot to tell the “Bundeswehr” being abolished and only cutting their budgets.
I see that excellent students are getting a lot benefits. Is there a guarantee that a student get financial aid by governement? I think I was never that good to get a scholarship by the DAAD or similar but i got financial aid were 50% have to be paid back after I graduated and made some money by working.
What you are saying is true. I know people who picked their college based on the lower school’students golf program. Neither person is successful. Others based their decision on either the school’system football or basketball teams. But they are probably blaming others for their lack of success.
“caste”, Mr. TeaTard.
If my national forebears had been responsible for or complicit in the annihilation of 6 million Jews and others, I would be touchy about the subject, too. But I have been to Germany and it was a difficult thing to know and see, especially being a Jew. But I am sentient enough (read: not a republiKKKlan TeaTard brain damaged bigot) to watch my manners. (And they want TRUMP as their “president”??)
The Bolshevik Fumigation was righteous. The allies of mass rape communism don’t think so. Maybe if their mothers and sisters were raped by the Red Army, they would have an opinion worth listening to.