Expensive tuition fees are the price you have to pay for higher education, that is, unless you choose to study in Germany. While the German government is praised for choosing to scrap high cost barriers for students wishing to attend public university—especially compared to countries such as the United States or the United Kingdom—some are criticizing the decision, claiming that is detrimental to Germany’s reputation as a global academic leader.
Why were tuition fees scrapped in the first place?
In some areas of the world, tuition fees are constantly on the rise. Currently, the higher education bill is making its way through British parliament and would allow universities to charge higher prices for education. Many critics look towards Germany, a similarly wealthy country with a conservative government. How can they provide university education for free?
In 2005 Germany’s constitutional court removed the ban on tuition fees, which were introduced by Gerhard Schröder’s coalition government of Social Democrats and Greens. Soon after, seven universities began charging €1,000 per year with the expectation of establishing a dynamic university market and increasing competition.
Students, however, didn’t quite agree. Protests of the fees were common in many regions, with some students in Hesse occupying universities with banners saying, “Without education, I’ll have to go into politics.”
This intense opposition provided the right platform for the Social Democratic and Green parties, who began to scrap tuition fees all together in states where they came into power. According to Stefan Körner, the Green leader in Lower Saxony, “We found that fees interfered with the principle of equal opportunities to a degree that was unacceptable to us.” Soon after, even very conservative regions followed suit.
The German university experience
In one way, higher tuition prices are directly linked to the structure of the university experience for students and the difference between the German university process and those in the U.K. or U.S. is quite different.
In Germany, students pay an administration fee of €150-€300, which includes access to the canteen (Mensa), sports facilities, unions and a semester transport card for public transportation within the region. In the U.S., you pay €150-€300 for one book, for one class (and that class probably costs around €1,000-€2,000 alone).
There can be extra fees added, if students choose to pursue a graduate degree or are slow to finish and take too long to finish their degree. As well, compared to the U.S. or U.K., German universities don’t typically provide any university-provided housing situation for students.
Switching from the U.S. system to the German one, for example, is quite an adjustment. At U.S. universities “hand-holding” is a common theme. In Germany, students are expected to organize their own studies and have much more independence.
The future of tuition fees in Germany
It seems that the topic of fees is off the table in Germany for the time being. Without the support of the states, the central government has no room to move towards a pay-structure.
Concerns are arising, however, that Germany is not able to attract the best international undergraduates and struggles to keep its best academic talents at home. The last two German Nobel prizewinners, for example, were either based at U.S. universities or worked together with U.S. researchers.
Many feel there is a lot of talk behind closed doors, and that the discussion of tuition fees is not over.
