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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: 4, Interesting) by bradley13 on Thursday October 16 2014, @08:47AM

    by bradley13 (3053) on Thursday October 16 2014, @08:47AM (#106567) Homepage Journal

    You seem to buy into the idea that everyone should have a college education. This is not true. Some people fail out of college because they shouldn't be there: intelligence and aptitudes differ. Many careers are hands-on, and require a practical education and apprenticeship, not college.

    Germany still has three tracks for career education:

    - Trade schools and apprenticeships: for carpenters, electricians, IT system administrators, etc.

    - Technical schools (Fachhochschulen): for practical office careers: programmers, engineers, managers, accountants, etc..

    - Universities: for careers requiring a more general and more abstract education: doctors, lawyers, scientist, but also more abstract programs for computer science, engineering, etc.

    Obviously, there are a lot of overlaps, not least because both the technical schools and the universities both offer bachelors and masters degrees. However, the differences are important. Different people and different careers require different kinds of education. This is being lost in the US, with the result that it is (a) increasingly difficult to get an education in a practical field, and (b) your average college education has been massively dumbed down.

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  • (Score: 1) by Buck Feta on Thursday October 16 2014, @12:36PM

    by Buck Feta (958) on Thursday October 16 2014, @12:36PM (#106590) Journal

    Are trade and technical schools also free in Germany?

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    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 16 2014, @03:01PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 16 2014, @03:01PM (#106644)

      Most Trade schools are free, while apprenticeships are usually paying you a monthly salary.
      Technical schools are akin to Colleges from the US, except they are free in Germany.
      However, Private Schools do cost money.