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How US students get a university degree for free in Germany
BBC ^ | 6/3/15 | Franz Strasser

Posted on 06/09/2015 4:02:20 PM PDT by markomalley

In a kitchen in rural South Carolina one night, Hunter Bliss told his mother he wanted to apply to university in Germany. Amy Hall chuckled, dismissed it, and told him he could go if he got in.

"When he got accepted I burst into tears," says Amy, a single mother. "I was happy but also scared to let him go that far away from home."

Across the US parents are preparing for their children to leave the nest this summer, but not many send them 4,800 miles (7,700km) away - or to a continent that no family member has ever set foot in.

Yet the appeal of a good education, and one that doesn't cost anything, was hard for Hunter and Amy to ignore. "For him to stay here in the US was going to be very costly," says Amy. "We would have had to get federal loans and student loans because he has a very fit mind and great goals."

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: foreigncolleges; lowcosteducation
FReepers looking to send their kids to college without having to take out a second mortgage should really look at sending them to Europe for school. Yes. Really.

My kid is has been going to school in Austria for the past three years. The cost is €8,150 per year ($9,188 at current exchange rate) and that includes tuition, room, and books. Extra is €55 per month for mandatory health insurance, money for food (she mostly cooks in her apartment) and a little money for playing tourist, etc.

I've looked at a number of other schools over there and the tuition is very, very similar...

1 posted on 06/09/2015 4:02:20 PM PDT by markomalley
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To: markomalley

I went to what is now Darmstadt U.(Technische Hochshule then) in the 70’s under a foreign student quota. My husband at that time was a DOD employee working for Stars & Stripes. It was a terrific experience.

At that time foreign students had to pass a German language proficiency test and to have finished the equivalent of junior college or two years at a four year institution to begin the German Master’s degree program. At that time Germany had nothing similar to a Bachelor’s degree.


2 posted on 06/09/2015 4:11:51 PM PDT by finnsheep
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To: markomalley

Indeed, my wife is from Paris and we selling our home and are moving her and the kids to France next year so they can have 3 years of high school prior to university, 100% due to costs.


3 posted on 06/09/2015 4:13:00 PM PDT by Jolla
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To: finnsheep
At that time foreign students had to pass a German language proficiency test and to have finished the equivalent of junior college or two years at a four year institution to begin the German Master’s degree program. At that time Germany had nothing similar to a Bachelor’s degree.

When my daughter started, she had to have a B1 level certificate...but they have hence eliminated the requirement at her school (classes are all in English).

4 posted on 06/09/2015 4:24:08 PM PDT by markomalley (Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good -- Leo XIII)
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To: markomalley

Very interesting. Very surprising.
Thanks for posting.


5 posted on 06/09/2015 4:29:00 PM PDT by Nevadan
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To: markomalley

“”My kid is has been going to school in Austria for the past three years””

She must have learned to speak AUSTRIAN before she moved, right - LOL? What do Austrians think of foreigners getting free educations in their country? I know what people think of it here so it just seems odd.


6 posted on 06/09/2015 4:30:19 PM PDT by Thank You Rush
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To: markomalley

My daughter leaves this fall. The one requirement: you have to pass the German language test at fluent level (C1) in order to get into many of the universities.


7 posted on 06/09/2015 4:38:48 PM PDT by SW6906 (6 things you can't have too much of: sex, money, firewood, horsepower, guns and ammunition.)
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To: Thank You Rush

You don’t need to speak Austrian.

German will do in a pinch.


8 posted on 06/09/2015 5:01:54 PM PDT by The KG9 Kid
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To: markomalley
My son spent two summers at the University in Leipzig, Germany. He was credited with 18 units. Cost was $1,800 per summer plus air fare (I used miles). He paid for his own misc. daily expenses (Dorm room with meal plan was included in the $1,800).

He graduated one semester early from UA.

Net savings was about $16,000

9 posted on 06/09/2015 5:04:31 PM PDT by Michael.SF. (If Hillary was running against Satan, I'd probably abstain.)
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To: Thank You Rush
She must have learned to speak AUSTRIAN before she moved, right - LOL?

She's a conservative, so she learned German instead.

What do Austrians think of foreigners getting free educations in their country? I know what people think of it here so it just seems odd.

First, it isn't free. Tuition at her school is €6,000 per year. The biggest thing is that it's not hyper-inflated to pay for sports teams getting degrees in football and basketball (rather than engineering or economics), non-working tenured professors, over-inflated staff, and social engineering experiments among the student body.

10 posted on 06/09/2015 5:08:38 PM PDT by markomalley (Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good -- Leo XIII)
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To: markomalley
How US students get a university degree for free in Germany

Free to the student. Costly to the German taxpayer.

Nothing is free. Someone has paid ... no matter what it is.

11 posted on 06/09/2015 5:14:26 PM PDT by Lizavetta
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To: markomalley

Well the kid sure as heck better learn German before going to study in a German or Austrian university. Not many high schools offer German.


12 posted on 06/09/2015 5:18:30 PM PDT by dennisw (The first principle is to find out who you are then you can achieve anything -- Buddhist monk)
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To: dennisw

>> the kid sure as heck better learn German before going to study in a German or Austrian university <<

Not so. You obviously didn’t read the article.


13 posted on 06/09/2015 5:46:13 PM PDT by Hawthorn
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To: markomalley
That's the land of chocolate, isn't it?

Mmmmm, Germany!


14 posted on 06/09/2015 5:50:57 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: Thank You Rush

15 posted on 06/09/2015 7:06:11 PM PDT by HonkyTonkMan
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To: Hawthorn

Thanks. I just read it


16 posted on 06/09/2015 8:05:00 PM PDT by dennisw (The first principle is to find out who you are then you can achieve anything -- Buddhist monk)
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To: markomalley

}}First, it isn’t free.””

The article was about “tuition free” college educations. So they are or they aren’t?

That first sentence of mine (about speaking Austrian) was a joke or a POKE at the world’s most powerful politician - BARF!


17 posted on 06/10/2015 6:59:17 AM PDT by Thank You Rush
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