In a followup, a Facebook correspondent reveals another place for Americans to get free college degrees:
Germany has recently offered free college to American students. Too bad that most America high schools don’t have the funding for German language classes. http://www.wtsp.com/…/german-colleges–free…/16658027/
An explanation from a German official, taken from the link:
In explaining why Germany made this move, Dorothee Stapelfeldt, a Hamburg senator, called tuition fees “unjust” and added that “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.”
Actually, German universities were free up until 2006 when they started charging tuition. That triggered such a crush of criticism that German states began phasing out this policy. Lower Saxony was the last holdout.
It’s an interesting remark, since it implies that students require the motivation of an academic family to attend college; is the economic situation such that college, i.e., education, is not really a prerequisite for bettering one’s life in Germany?
