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posted by martyb on Thursday October 16 2014, @01:55AM   Printer-friendly
from the frei-für-alles dept.

The Center for American Progress reports

Prospective students in the United States who can't afford to pay for college or don't want to rack up tens of thousands in student debt should try their luck in Germany. Higher education is now free throughout the country, even for international students. Yesterday, Lower Saxony became the last of seven German states to abolish tuition fees, which were already extremely low compared to those paid in the United States.

German universities only began charging for tuition in 2006, when the German Constitutional Court ruled that limited fees, combined with loans, were not in conflict the country's commitment to universal education. The measure proved unpopular, however, and German states that had instituted fees began dropping them one by one.

"We got rid of tuition fees because we do not want higher education which depends on the wealth of the parents," Gabrielle Heinen-Kjajic, the minister for science and culture in Lower Saxony, said in a statement. Her words were echoed by many in the German government. "Tuition fees are unjust," said Hamburg's senator for science Dorothee Stapelfeldt. "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."

[...]Free education is a concept that is embraced in most of Europe with notable exceptions like the U.K., where the government voted to lift the cap on university fees in 2010. The measure has reportedly cost more money than it brought in. The Guardian reported in March that students are failing to pay back student loans at such a rate that "the government will lose more money than it would have saved from keeping the old £3,000 ($4,865) tuition fee system."

[...]learning German might be the best financial choice an American high school student can make.

 
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  • (Score: 1) by dltaylor on Thursday October 16 2014, @02:32AM

    by dltaylor (4693) on Thursday October 16 2014, @02:32AM (#106509)

    While we have "major" private universities, like Stanford and the University of Southern California, there was a time when the three-tier community colleges, California State Universites, and University of California (various locations) were supposed to be available to all academically qualified students at low cost. Sadly, that time has long passed.

  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday October 16 2014, @03:08AM

    by kaszz (4211) on Thursday October 16 2014, @03:08AM (#106517) Journal

    When did that end?

    • (Score: 1) by dltaylor on Thursday October 16 2014, @03:53AM

      by dltaylor (4693) on Thursday October 16 2014, @03:53AM (#106526)

      Over a decade ago, the combination of the lure of tuition-paying foreign students at UC, plus the failure to keep construction pace with the population growth in the Cal State and Community Colleges began locking California students out of the system. There are still opportunities in the Cal State system, but classes needed are often badly under-presented, making it very difficult to enter and complete.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday October 16 2014, @03:56AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 16 2014, @03:56AM (#106528) Journal
      Budget issues over the past 20 or 30 years. I think things got noticeably more expensive during the Schwarzenegger administration, but it was going to happen.
    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 16 2014, @04:05AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 16 2014, @04:05AM (#106531)

      When Gov. Ronald Reagan (R) took office, he insisted on imposing a new fee that would later become synonymous with tuition, thus ending California’s tradition of providing virtually free education to qualified college students. Since then, tuition has slowly skyrocketed, eclipsing the ability of many middle class Californians to get an affordable education.

      College Used To Be Virtually Free In California [thinkprogress.org]

      -- gewg_

  • (Score: 1) by Whoever on Thursday October 16 2014, @03:54AM

    by Whoever (4524) on Thursday October 16 2014, @03:54AM (#106527) Journal

    It's still not very expensive if you do the general ed at community college, then transfer into a UC school at junior level.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 16 2014, @04:09AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 16 2014, @04:09AM (#106532)

      And what, end up with half an education?

    • (Score: 1) by Bob The Cowboy on Thursday October 16 2014, @02:49PM

      by Bob The Cowboy (2019) on Thursday October 16 2014, @02:49PM (#106641)

      I literally just did this a couple years ago. From my 2 years at a CSU alone I have 30k in debt. I got a job afterward, but 15 years ago I would have had about a tenth of that debt. It's a pretty big problem.