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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: 2) by bill_mcgonigle on Thursday October 16 2014, @08:13AM

    by bill_mcgonigle (1105) on Thursday October 16 2014, @08:13AM (#106560)

    "We got rid of tuition fees because we do not want higher education which depends on the wealth of the parents"

    This is entirely confused-thinking. Free tuition is a subsidy specifically to rich people. A strong scholarship program is what helps level the playing field. When you ditch scholarships for non-wealthy people and institute free tuition, the rich folk are the only beneficiaries, since they were the only ones paying tuition in the first place.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 16 2014, @08:21AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 16 2014, @08:21AM (#106563)

    Well, germany has progressive income tax (according to wikipedia), and free school means more taxes, of which the rich pay more. The ratio of who pays what between the tax and tuition model is unkown, and probably very hard to calculate, but the effect is the same.

  • (Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Thursday October 16 2014, @08:58AM

    by q.kontinuum (532) on Thursday October 16 2014, @08:58AM (#106569) Journal

    First of all, most existing scholarship programs are not strong enough, the investment would have to be much higher in that area. Second, it would still enable kids of rich parents to study even if they were less than average suited, while preventing the poorer kids if their school results are not that good. I'm not even sure, overall school results are a good metric to assess the potential of a would-be student.

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  • (Score: 2) by urza9814 on Friday October 17 2014, @02:56PM

    by urza9814 (3954) on Friday October 17 2014, @02:56PM (#107036) Journal

    Scholarships are limited. So a scholarship system is effectively saying: "We have X seats available for rich people, and Y seats available for poor people."

    Scholarships are also generally a lot of work. So a scholarship system is effectively saying: "We'll accept any rich person, but only the best, brightest, and most motivated poor people."

    Free tuition, on the other hand, says: "We have X seats available so we're only accepting the best, brightest, and most motivated applicants regardless of income level."