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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."
Just what college kids need, access to beer.
The cost of the education pales in comparison to the benefit to society, and the profits isn't always a good metric?
I like your ideas, and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
If DeVry's Master of Finance program allows resits, you should look into it. Because you appear to have debtors and creditors the wrong way round.
You aren't that fucking 7 digit windbag who goes on about Aristophanes, are you?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Look man, if the Germans are going to dominate Europe, there's worse ways they could go about it -- right?
University is pretty cheap in almost all Europe. Most countries have tuitions of about 1000$ per year, which include administrative costs. More than a few countries offer completely free university to EU citizens and Finland offers free university to non-EU citizens too.
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?...
And yet, Germany has the biggest economy in Europe, a massive trade surplus, and has a heavy focus on technology and manufacturing.
Maybe the Germans have collectively decided that the cost of the education is trivial compared to the long term gains of keeping some highly educated people around, or having its own citizens be educated.
Maybe, gasp, it's possible to both make profits and take care of your people -- and that it isn't an either/or proposition.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Getting an education in the US is waay different to Germany.
Firstly, education in the US is one of the most expensive in the world. So foreigners that study in the US generally are relatively rich (or from rich families) to start with, and paying A LOT more than it would cost them to live in their own country to be there.
>> not Everyone moves out of the US after studying here...but they're not forced to.
They pretty much are. To study in the US you need a student visa which expires after you graduate or flunk out. If you stay outside of that, without having an something like an H1B or a green card you're illegal. simple. And those are not so easy/quick to get.
Also except for some very specific cases to do with training related to study, a student visa does not entitle you to work either.
Wow, articles about nonsense, because americans can not believe that "not being 100% capitalistic" is not the same as being socialistic or communistic.
Look at this, an extract from the german constitution:
(1) Alle Menschen sind vor dem Gesetz gleich.
(2) MÃnner und Frauen sind gleichberechtigt. Der Staat fÃrdert die tatsÃchliche Durchsetzung der Gleichberechtigung von Frauen und MÃnnern und wirkt auf die Beseitigung bestehender Nachteile hin.
(3) Niemand darf wegen seines Geschlechtes, seiner Abstammung, seiner Rasse, seiner Sprache, seiner Heimat und Herkunft, seines Glaubens, seiner religiÃsen oder politischen Anschauungen benachteiligt oder bevorzugt werden. Niemand darf wegen seiner Behinderung benachteiligt werden.
Relevant is (3) so I translate:
No one may be disadvantaged or favoured because of his gender, ancestry, race, language, motherland, land of origin, faith/religion, religious or political "ideology". [...]
There is simply no way for a university to charge a foreign student for a service a german student is not charged for. The only way would be to introduce some complex legislation e.g. requiring that a student had done a social service or military service and balancing that for foreign students with payments.
That said, ofc it was possible - and likely still is - to charge everyone after the tenth semester a fee for not finishing his studies in time. Here now you could invent "laws" how to get exempt from that obligation and make the way of getting that exempt so complicated that foreigners have difficulties to get approved.
Anyway. We also have private universities, that charge fees. Regardless if you are german or a foreigner.
We had cost free universities till roughly 2000, then they suddenly changed a lot, now they are changing back.
The treatment for foreigners was always the same as for germans. Not surprising: 90% of the foreigners are foreigners from other EU countries.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Maybe Germans would re-think that decision if they had to pay a realistic sum for their own civil defense rather than rely on the US and NATO.
Oh I love how this argument always comes out when it comes to how one country manages to do something different compared to the US.
For all the bullshit spewing about how the US "protects everyone else in the world and you would all be fucked without us", you folks certainly let Ukraine down.
the funny thing is the people who complain about this (rightfully so) are the same ones that would call me a racist for saying learn english here in america
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
This simply isn't true. People come to the US all of the time, and get their education...then move back to their country of origin and work there.
Sure, not Everyone moves out of the US after studying here...but they're not forced to. And the taxes you're paying for all that FWEE education come from the working residents of Germany, from whom you'll have to continue to pilfer to fund this Utopian solution.
FTA:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazi...
Research shows that the system is working, says Sebastian Fohrbeck of DAAD, and that 50% of foreign students stay in Germany.
"Even if people don't pay tuition fees, if only 40% stay for five years and pay taxes we recover the cost for the tuition and for the study places so that works out well."
>> Well, Germans should learn English, as should everyone else.
As an Englishman living in the USA I can't agree more. Americans are at the top of the list of nations that need to learn English :-)
Having experienced both systems, I would say that the academics were comparable. I think the choice of where to study depends on whom you want to meet and what kind of career you would like having afterwards. The U.S. is closer to a lot of the innovation in computer science, so if striking it rich at the next big thing in Silicon Valley is your ambition, you could probably get better contacts at an American University. Germany has a more traditional industrial economy, a lot like the U.S. was before about 1970. Germany designs, develops and makes a lot of their own stuff. Studying in Germany helped me gain a lot of invaluable contacts in the German "Mittelstand" or mid-sized industry. Germany is one of the few places that still combine product development and manufacturing under one roof and there are a lot of advantages to the 'old-school' way of doing business. It might not be as sleek as "designed in California, made in China" but it's the best way to ensure consistant quality, especially in more complex, safety-critical industries.