Anyone heard about this? Germany is scrapping all tuition fees for domestic and international students?
Do you feel ripped off or what?

North America is so behind.

Do you have a link to the article you saw?

Single payer systems are much more efficient. I wouldnt be surprised if having the gov pay tuition would be cheaper in the long run than a combination of subsidizing + loans + debt relief.

I highly doubt you could convince tax payers to pay the much more expensive tuition of international students though. Theres also the problem of professional students who would just suck the system dry. There would need to be financial consequences like making TAing for grad students mandatory and paying min wage (since no more tuition or major student debt).

Originally Posted by qwerty91

Single payer systems are much more efficient. I wouldnt be surprised if having the gov pay tuition would be cheaper in the long run than a combination of subsidizing + loans + debt relief.

I highly doubt you could convince tax payers to pay the much more expensive tuition of international students though. Theres also the problem of professional students who would just suck the system dry. There would need to be financial consequences like making TAing for grad students mandatory and paying min wage (since no more tuition or major student debt).

Tuition for international students is only more expensive because the government doesn't currently subsidize it. It is not inherently more expensive - it is the price you would be paying if the government didn't subsidize tuition (and it is why private universities are much more expensive).
I agree though that even if they instituted "free" tuition for domestic students, people would be unwilling to foot the bill for international students, considering how much of an issue that already is - that's why the government doesn't subsidize tuition for them in the first place.
I suspect Germany has far less international students than Canada does.

I'd be interested to see what restrictions they have, if any. Is it only for a first undergrad degree? Or any/all degrees? Will it be harder for students to get accepted into university? Or will this further degrade the value of a degree?
They're not the first country to do this, and probably won't be the last. I'm interested in seeing how it plays out.

Originally Posted by MimeMime

North America is so behind.

We can always import some bearded women from Europe and be on par with civilized world.

I do wonder how Germany, that's already pulling most of Europe's economic weight is now going to pay for tuition for millions of students. Are the foreseen returns really that high?

Originally Posted by starfish

Tuition for international students is only more expensive because the government doesn't currently subsidize it. It is not inherently more expensive - it is the price you would be paying if the government didn't subsidize tuition (and it is why private universities are much more expensive).
I agree though that even if they instituted "free" tuition for domestic students, people would be unwilling to foot the bill for international students, considering how much of an issue that already is - that's why the government doesn't subsidize tuition for them in the first place.
I suspect Germany has far less international students than Canada does.

I'd be interested to see what restrictions they have, if any. Is it only for a first undergrad degree? Or any/all degrees? Will it be harder for students to get accepted into university? Or will this further degrade the value of a degree?
They're not the first country to do this, and probably won't be the last. I'm interested in seeing how it plays out.

Ya by much more expensive I meant to bring the net-zero payment for the student to zero. For the average Ontario student it would be maybe $4000 on average per year (after subsidies and subtracting out all current grants across all demographics). For an international student with no current subsidies or grants it could be easily 50k (although varies a lot).

It would also cause an extreme political shakeup as currently education is handled mostly at the provincial level. You would also see major shifts in schooling in Canada as out of province universities would no longer be blocked by a large financial barrier. I imagine ontario universities and, UBC, and UAlberta would be hit the hardest from large increases in enrollment.

Finally there would probably be a large surge in Arts programs as universities heavily promote the arts to bring in a cheap source of income (STEM programs are more expensive to run)

Originally Posted by GeorgeLucas

We can always import some bearded women from Europe and be on par with civilized world.

I do wonder how Germany, that's already pulling most of Europe's economic weight is now going to pay for tuition for millions of students. Are the foreseen returns really that high?

For Domestic students:
The costs are already quite low (they would be paying only about thousand euro a person). Additionally the costs of debt... an relieving that debt are very high. The UK had capped tuition a few years ago. When they removed the caps costs to gov actually went up from thousands of students defaulting on loans (and interest accumulation).

For international students:
University tuition is quite low in the majority of europe and a significant portion of the world class universities are in the UK. There would be little motivation to move to germany for university when already in (most parts of) the EU. The major exception is the UK which is quite expensive since they removed the caps.

To make university free, you must restrict the number of students. When people pay, the university system will expand to accommodate demand.

When people pay, the university system will expand to accommodate demand.

You know, I pay my tuition like other students, but software engineering at McMaster doesn't get any less shittier for some reason.

Weird.

McMaster did build 3 new buildings while I was here. Funny how they value quantity of education over quality, almost like our health care system.

This is a friendly notice to those discussing this topic:

If you have purchased multiple products from Starbucks this past week, your arguments against the cost of tuition in Canada, and how you have no money because the school costs too damn much, are null and void.

If this is you, please find another cause to care about.

Happy tuition and right-to-education debate!

Originally Posted by mike_302

This is a friendly notice to those discussing this topic:

If you have purchased multiple products from Starbucks this past week, your arguments against the cost of tuition in Canada, and how you have no money because the school costs too damn much, are null and void.

If this is you, please find another cause to care about.

Happy tuition and right-to-education debate!

Here's an instagram of my $6 mocha-frappe-fuckyfuck-latte, is ne1 else pissed about the $50 per year for the EXCEL building? #studentliving #foreverpoor #cantaffordthatshit

Sent from my Iphone 6

I became best friends in grade 11 with an exchange student from Germany. We still keep in touch, and I remember her telling me that she goes to university for free but she's obligated to work for a certain company for 5 years. I remember thinking how horrible it would be to be tied to a job for that long without a possibility of changing your job for five years, but now I think how lucky she is to be guaranteed a job after school! We'd all love that. Her boyfriend is even doing his Masters and that is paid for, too.