And not just for Germans.
All German universities are now free to Americans and all other international students. Just this week the last German state to charge tuition eradicated those fees. Countries like Norway, Sweden, Argentina, France, Greece and Finland are among several nations that offer free higher education to their students.
German colleges had been tuition free up until 2006 when their supreme court ruled tuition could be charged. But that decision triggered a huge crush of criticism from the electorate. Lower Saxony was the last region to phase out tuition.
When explaining the reasoning for the move, Dorothee Stapelfeldt, a Hamburg senator, she said the fees were “socially unjust” adding that tuition fees “discouraged young people who do not have a traditional academic family background from taking up study.”
Things are different in America when it comes to ensuring everyone can afford an education. State budget writers, including Washington’s, have been dipping into higher-ed budgets to cover shortfalls brought on by the recession. Now with the recession technically over, those funds have yet to be reinvested into the higher-ed system.
The de-investment in higher-ed by the states (and subsequent rise in tuition rates) has not been just a recessionary phenomenon. It has been going for over thirty years.
This has led to crushing debt loads being taken on by students and their families to cover the cost of their education.
So how much would it cost the U.S. to make higher education tuition free? According to recent studies, if the federal government were to kick in the money they already spend on its cornucopia of financial aid programs (Pell grants, student loans, etc.), that would cover it.
_______________________________________________________