[Peace-discuss] Fwd: At least for now, learning German might be the best financial choice an American high school student can make.

Sun Oct 5 11:37:31 EDT 2014

High tuition fees in the U.S. have caused student loan debt, which 
stands at $1.2 tril....

Just imagine the interest payments, Buck-o.

On 10/05/2014 11:14 PM, David Johnson via Peace-discuss wrote:
>
>
>
>
>   This Country Just Abolished College Tuition Fees
>
> German Chancellor Angela Merkel with college students CREDIT: AP 
> Photo/Michael Probst
> Educate! <http://www.popularresistance.org/category/educate/> Debt 
> <http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/debt/>, Education 
> <http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/education/>, Germany 
> <http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/germany/>
> By Joaquim Moreira Salles, www.thinkprogress.com 
> <http://thinkprogress.org/education/2014/10/01/3574551/germany-free-college-tuition/>
> October 4th, 2014
>   Powered by Translate <https://translate.google.com>
> 5 
> <http://www.popularresistance.org/this-country-just-abolished-college-tuition-fees/#>
> Print Friendly 
> <http://www.printfriendly.com/print?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.popularresistance.org%2Fthis-country-just-abolished-college-tuition-fees%2F>
>
> /German Chancellor Angela Merkel with college students CREDIT: AP/ 
> /Photo/Michael Probst/
>
> Prospective students in the United States who can’t afford to pay for 
> college or don’t want to rack up tens of thousands in student debt 
> should try their luck in Germany. Higher education is now free 
> throughout the country, even for international students. Yesterday, 
> Lower Saxony became the last of seven German states to abolish tuition 
> fees 
> <http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/22027/1/germany-scraps-tuition-fees-for-all-universities>, 
> which were already extremely low compared to those paid in the United 
> States.
>
> German universities only began charging for tuition in 2006, when the 
> German Constitutional Court ruled that limited fees, combined with 
> loans, were not in conflict the country’s commitment to universal 
> education. The measure proved unpopular, however, and German states 
> that had instituted fees began dropping them one by one.
>
> “We got rid of tuition fees because we do not want higher education 
> which depends on the wealth of the parents,” Gabrielle Heinen-Kjajic, 
> the minister for science and culture in Lower Saxony, said in a 
> statement. Her words were echoed by many in the German government. 
> “Tuition fees are unjust,” said Hamburg’s senator for science Dorothee 
> Stapelfeldt. “They discourage young people who do not have a 
> traditional academic family background from taking up study. It is a 
> core task of politics to ensure that young women and men can study 
> with a high quality standard free of charge in Germany.”
>
> Compared to American students, Germans barely had to pay for 
> undergraduate study even before tuition fees were abolished. Semester 
> fees averaged around €500 <http://www.economist.com/node/18898286> 
> ($630) and students were entitled to many perks 
> <http://www.studentuniverse.com/student-blog/study-abroad/benefits-student-germany>, 
> such as cheap (often free) transportation within and between cities.
>
> Free education is a concept that is embraced in most of Europe with 
> notable exceptions like the U.K., where the government voted to lift 
> the cap on university fees in 2010. The measure has reportedly cost 
> more money than it brought in. The Guardian 
> <http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/mar/21/student-fees-policy-costing-more> 
> reported in March that students are failing to pay back student loans 
> at such a rate that “the government will lose more money than it would 
> have saved from keeping the old £3,000 ($4,865) tuition fee system.”
>
> UK students often compare their plight to their American counterparts, 
> but most Americans would be fortunate to pay as little as the British 
> do: a maximum of $14,550 per year 
> <http://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/student-finance/uk-tuition-fees-how-much-does-it-cost-study-uk>. 
> High tuition fees in the U.S. have caused student loan debt, which 
> stands at $1.2 trillion, to spiral out of control. It is now the 
> second-highest form of consumer debt in the country. According to the 
> Institute for College Access and Success 
> <http://www.forbes.com/sites/specialfeatures/2013/08/07/how-the-college-debt-is-crippling-students-parents-and-the-economy/>, 
> two thirds of American college students will leave their alma mater in 
> significant debt (averaging at $26,600).
>
> While there are many government measures that could ease the massive 
> burden of student debt, some straightforward steps could make higher 
> education accessible to all. Tennessee 
> <http://thinkprogress.org/education/2014/04/16/3427593/tennessee-free-college-tuition/>, 
> for example, recently voted to make two-year colleges free for all 
> high school graduates. The U.S. as whole could take a note from 
> Germany and make public universities free with relative ease 
> <http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/heres-exactly-how-much-the-government-would-have-to-spend-to-make-public-college-tuition-free/282803/>. 
> The government spends around $69 billion subsidizing college education 
> and another $107.4 billion on student loans. Tuition at all public 
> universities comes to much less than that, around $62.6 billion in 
> 2012. By restructuring the education budget, the cost of attending 
> public universities could easily be brought down to zero. This would 
> also put pressure on private universities to lower their cost in order 
> to be more competitive.
>
> At least for now, however, learning German might be the best financial 
> choice an American high school student can make.
>
>
>
>
>
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