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 ...
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...
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.
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.
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).
Very interesting. Very surprising.
Thanks for posting.
“”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.
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.
You don’t need to speak Austrian.
German will do in a pinch.
He graduated one semester early from UA.
Net savings was about $16,000
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.
Free to the student. Costly to the German taxpayer.
Nothing is free. Someone has paid ... no matter what it is.
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.
>> 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.
Mmmmm, Germany!
Thanks. I just read it
}}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!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.