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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 khallow on Wednesday October 22 2014, @03:30PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 22 2014, @03:30PM (#108718) Journal

    Your the guy who when the situation is tense and there's a call for solutions

    Fuck "calls for solutions". None of these "solvers" have truthfully answered the basic question, "is it better to do my solution or to do nothing at all?" The thing that got missed here is that developed world wages would have declined whether or not we did anything about it. That's basic supply and demand in action. But by aggressively punishing local employers (by adding to the bureaucracy and costs that the employer has to endure), the developed world has collectively made their side worse off. That's the sort of anti-solutions that are being "called for" here. The real "solution" as I see it is to rub their noses in it each time they do that.

  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday October 22 2014, @05:02PM

    by sjames (2882) on Wednesday October 22 2014, @05:02PM (#108777) Journal

    We're doomed, we're all doomed! That's it, Game Over man. Now go do yopur duty and live in 3rd world poverty in a 1st world nation because that's the only solution. Now if you'll excuse me, it's money counting day./..