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How American Students Can Get a University Degree For Free In Germany
HughPickens.com writes: BBC reports that Germany has abandoned tuition fees altogether for German and international students alike and more than 4,600 US students are fully enrolled at Germany universities, an increase of 20% over three years. "When I found out that just like Germans I'm studying for free, it was sort of mind blowing," says Katherine Burlingame who decided to get her Master's degree at a university in the East German town of Cottbus. "I realized how easy the admission process was and how there was no tuition fee. This was a wow moment for me." When Katherine came to Germany in 2012 she spoke two words of German: 'hallo' and 'danke'. She arrived in an East German town which had, since the 1950s, taught the majority of its residents Russian rather than English. "At first I was just doing hand gestures and a lot of people had compassion because they saw that I was trying and that I cared." She did not need German, however, in her Master's program, which was filled with students from 50 different countries but taught entirely in English. In fact, German universities have drastically increased all-English classes to more than 1,150 programs across many fields.
So how can Germany afford to educate foreign students for free? Think about it this way: it's a global game of collecting talent. All of these students are the trading cards, and the collectors are countries. If a country collects more talent, they'll have an influx of new ideas, new businesses and a better economy. For a society with a demographic problem — a growing retired population and fewer young people entering college and the workforce — qualified immigration is seen as a resolution to the problem as research shows that 50% of foreign students stay in Germany. "Keeping international students who have studied in the country is the ideal way of immigration," says Sebastian Fohrbeck."They have the needed certificates, they don't have a language problem at the end of their stay and they know the culture."
So how can Germany afford to educate foreign students for free? Think about it this way: it's a global game of collecting talent. All of these students are the trading cards, and the collectors are countries. If a country collects more talent, they'll have an influx of new ideas, new businesses and a better economy. For a society with a demographic problem — a growing retired population and fewer young people entering college and the workforce — qualified immigration is seen as a resolution to the problem as research shows that 50% of foreign students stay in Germany. "Keeping international students who have studied in the country is the ideal way of immigration," says Sebastian Fohrbeck."They have the needed certificates, they don't have a language problem at the end of their stay and they know the culture."
Hi,
the drinking age is 18 .. meaning .. Vodka, Barcardi, Tequilla, ..
Our national iconographic singer songwriter and essaist "Otto" described the joys of drinking in his epic song
"Wir haben Grund zum Feiern!" / "We need to party!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
America used to be the home of mass-produced watery beer, but I don't know about that anymore.
There are so many good beers brewed at American small brewers that it's hard to imagine. There are nearly a dozen microbreweries (nearly all of them canning & bottling for retail sales) within the city limits of Minneapolis alone, each with 3-4 regular production brews.
The shelf space at two of the better stores around here is like 50% small brewery, 30% imports and the remaining 20% pretty much everything else, including all the major brands. It's astonishing how fast the beer market has changed. There are even a few places that have opened up that sell nothing but microbrews with an inventory bigger than a lot of other entire liquor stores.
And all of this is compounded by the small brewers who aren't distributing across state lines. Half the great beer we don't even get access to because its stranded by ridiculous national tax rules.
Yes, that "mass-produced watery beer" (some brands of it imported in Europe (!)... for American tourists!) is my experience of American beer - i am glad that you mentioned good quality small brewery variety exist nowadays in the States, i am happy for you!
I was not trying to insult Yankees (i LOVE bourbon!), i just made a comparison (even our mass-produced -EVEN THE GREEK BRANDS, which is probably the worse in Europe- is decent beer).
Antisthenes: "Wisdom begins by examining the words/names." - excuse my English, i am (slightly...) better with my Greek!
Maybe you might want to add that the 45% income tax only applies to you if you already make more money than a sensible person can spend in a lifetime. But it's superficial little tidbits like these that you so conveniently forget to mention...
The main difference is maybe that anyone can start studying at a university, rich or poor, with your brains, not your pockets, dictating whether you get an education. But hey, why should those peons get that right? Down with competition from below!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
It's so funny when you say someone with a bachelor degree is a post grad.
When bachelor/master degrees were introduced here in Germany, the industry didn't know what to do with those bachelor students that knew only half of what the old Diplom students knew.
The problem is "microbrew" in america is pretty synonymous with an absolutely rip-snortingly insane amount of hops, you may as well just put a bunch in a blender and add ethanol.
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
Taxes are minimally higher in Germany, but considering what you get for your buck, it's money well spent.
That's probably, because Germany doesn't have over 200 military bases around the world to maintain; money that could be spent on the welfare of the population instead of protecting the status quo of the elite few.
You don't understand Europeans. If you have a degree and are 30-something and haven't lived in at least 2-3 countries, people think you've left yourself behind. And you seem narrow-minded, if you don't have kids but have already decided where to settle. Europeans relocate a lot - not just within Europe but of course also to other continents because there's a big world to explore and you only have one life. As a side note: Don't think the US is that special just because a lot of us come there to work and study - we go everywhere. When there is a certain correlation between higher (progressive) taxes and living standards, Europeans happily pay taxes as "rent" for staying in a nice country. That said, I do see some merit to your typical, American view which emphasizes personal responsibility and so on. On that side of the pond you also work a lot harder and save for retirement - the earlier the better because you need it since you work so hard :) Here we rely on "the system" instead of even thinking about it.
What you also seem to have missed is that in your scenario, there's a lot less of a safety net. If you get an illness or something else unexpected substantially disrupts your studies or work, what do you do? Even if you get your illness treated without the treatment costing you an arm and a leg (I assume Obamacare should nowadays ensure that), a couple of years out of work can harm your career and budget substantially for a long, long time.
IMO you need to step away from the german pils/lagers. Weisse both Heifen and Kristal are just magical. The problem is typically tourists come over and expect to order something that "looks like it does back home" and get Becks or a local equivalent and it is just okay. That said if you like to drink Bud or similar style piss you can get it in Germany for around 30 cents a pint.