Germany has long shown far greater foresight than the United States in the investment into science, infrastructure, and alternative energy — investments that are now giving the country huge returns as a leading economic system. With a decision of Lower Saxony, the German have now shown precisely how serious they are about keeping the country as one of the most educated in the world: they have eliminated all college and university tuition. The Germans view education as not just a right, but an essential component for continued growth.
There are critics to educational subsidies who raise some good-faith issues of how such payments can eliminate pressure to make efficient choices and actually drive up costs. I actually see value to students paying some tuition. However, with tuition sky rocking in the United States and falling enrollment numbers, the United States is heading to a reckoning in the future for our lack of investment in our workforce. While we have spent trillions of dollars on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and just renewed our commitment to the later to keep forces in the country), we have continued to cut environmental, scientific, educational, and infrastructure investments. The inevitable result is that we will continue to drop in our competitiveness in the world market and the future economy. Every other country is investing heavily in education while the United States continues to be distracted by shiny objects with more immediate political benefits for politicians.
What is striking is that it is not just third world countries that are investing heavily education, but economic leaders like Germany.
Notably, tuition was only introduced in Germany in 2006 after the German Constitutional Court ruled that limited fees do not violate the country’s commitment to universal education. However, the tuition rates proved unpopular and the country is now tuition free. Of course, there is no such thing as free tuition. The taxpayers are footing the bill. Moreover, such government subsidies can have a negative impact on not just the choices of students (who feel less pressure to make efficient choices) but on schools which are dependent on the government.
Nevertheless, the contrast could not be greater with the United States in terms of the commitment to education as not just a right (as it is in Germany) but as a real national security priority.
The article below has an interesting discussion of how England rejected the free tuition approach but has lost more money due to the higher student default rate on tuition. Yet, the English students face a maximum debt load of $14,550 per year where U.S. tuition rates and debt are soaring. Student loan debt in our country now stands at $1.2 trillion.
Of course, that is less than a third of the costs for the wars, but no one is making such comparisons.
http://thinkprogress.org/education/2014/10/01/3574551/germany-free-college-tuition/
We already have scholarships and student aid for people who need financial help to realize their education dreams. Improve this system, sure, but making it free for all, regardless of economic status, makes no sense. It would only overburden a struggling economy.
When the job market is so bad that over 25% of African American youth are unemployed, it is inconceivable to further burden the economy and taxpayers with the inevitably higher taxes to pay for free university tuition for all.
I agree with Professor Turley that there is some value in students paying at least some tuition, as a factor in making efficient choices. It reminds me of the rich family who gives their teenager a Porsche, which he wrecks, and then a Mercedes, which he wrecks, and so on. Compare that with the family who matches their son’s contribution for a fixer-upper, which he toils on himself and treats like his prized, irreplaceable possession.
I favor methods that make tuition more affordable, but not free. I also believe that university is not for everyone, and trade schools are an honorable career path, too.
From my own experience, I used to tutor teenagers on how to get into college. Most that I helped for free blew off homework assignments and required reading. They had the attitude that it wasn’t important. The ones whose parents paid took their assignments very seriously, and did correspondingly better. “Free stuff” isn’t considered as valuable as what you have to pay for.
Also, if making university studies free further hurts the economy, we’ve just educated a workforce but taken away their opportunities. That’s been a problem in the past in Egypt, where students graduated free universities and had no prospects except for discord.
As a fiscal conservative, this is my problem with a Liberal proposal such as this – free education. Once again, there is no money to pay for it. It has to come from SOMEWHERE, and we’re talking about a really significant expense. A better idea is improving the system to bring down costs, such as reining in the extravagant regent benefits.
Karen – we value what we pay for things. The more we pay the more we value it. A 40k education is more valued than a 20k education even though they may have equal value educationally.
Karen S wrote: “A better idea is improving the system to bring down costs, such as reining in the extravagant regent benefits.”
Don’t forget student loans. Just as insurance has caused medical care costs to skyrocket, student loans have caused the cost of school to skyrocket. When it is very easy for the school to get money from students, the price just goes up and up. Later, students have to deal with the unpaid loans.
Paul C. Schulte – Which probably has more to do with their success than their socialist tendencies. Funny how a liberal will jump on the sword for evolution but yet think everyone is equal.
What is also troubling in the US is who the University Regents are paid enormous salaries, jacking up tuition costs.
Karen – I do not understand your last comment. Are you complaining that the Regents are overpaid or that they are overpaying others?
“So even though university is free now, many students will not be admitted even if they want to go.”
It sounded to me like the student needs to be qualified to take the courses. I would presume, have the grades and the prerequisite knowledge. If students are not able or prepared to take the courses then they are not allowed to enter university.
Just because you want something, doesn’t mean you CAN get it or that you SHOULD get it.
“Our system allows that. If someone wants to go to college and get an education, he can do it. He just works hard to pay for it, works hard at learning the material, and then he goes and obtains the education he wants.”
Yes. If he/she qualifies for the school, by having the requisite grades, academic history and appropriate scores on the various tests (SAT etc). Yes if you work hard at learning the material, you might have those requisites and obtain an education. Whether it is the one you want, is another issue.
By allowing everyone, when they are not qualified, not educated enough, or not prepared to do the course work, to enter college, you are just dumbing down the entire system. You are also making the college experience not worthwhile for those student who ARE prepared and qualified. The worst thing is that you take those students who are just not qualified or ready for college and put them into a situation where they are more likely to “feel” bad about themselves and to fail.
slohrss29 – “Sorry Jim, still not buying that. I would call the will to survive and prosper different from greed. Your path sounds a little more like “Nietzsche’s Superman” to me. But I live to split hairs…”
I will admit I’m not too familiar with Nietzsche’s work. But for debate, let me ask you, why do you own anything? And why not give away everything you have? Even Lennon loved money. Hell, how much did he make off of “Imagine”?
David, I brought “feeling” into it since it seems today that we are more interested in how a kid might feel vs. how they perform. I totally agree with you about the freedom to choose. But if a kid is always told he is a winner even when not deserved, how will he hone in on his particular skill set accurately? And, if he can’t pick his skill set correctly, how will he succeed? In life there are winners and losers and knowing that allows one to navigate through life better.
Sorry Jim, still not buying that. I would call the will to survive and prosper different from greed. Your path sounds a little more like “Nietzsche’s Superman” to me. But I live to split hairs…
davidm2575 – “Wow, that is interesting. So even though university is free now, many students will not be admitted even if they want to go.”
Wow, how greedy of the Germans! What about all of those hurt feelings?
Jim22, I don’t know where you pulled “feelings” into this. The issue is freedom. It reminds me of when I asked a taxi driver in China about how he became a taxi driver. Well, his government fit him to the job. How many children can he and his wife have? The government decides that for him too.
Whatever system one takes, it should allow any individual to follow his dream, even if someone in government decides that his dream is wrong for him.
Our system allows that. If someone wants to go to college and get an education, he can do it. He just works hard to pay for it, works hard at learning the material, and then he goes and obtains the education he wants.
Jim22 – the Germans don’t see it as hurt feelings. It is what it is. 😉
slohrss29 – “I don’t like to use “greed” in a positive sense. ”
slohrss29, I would argue that greed is the only thing that makes life worth living. Without it you get a world like Lennon describes in “Imagine”. Very boring and really not worth living. Greed is why we get up in the morning, own a house, get a job, have kids, act competitive, etc…. “Greed” has just become a buzz word for the left/progressive/liberal and we are supposed to feel guilty about our “greed”. Greed is good and necessary for without it, there would be no self preservation and without that, you would not exist.
David, The German k-12 school system is quite different from ours. There are criteria for getting the college prep courses. If you don’t make the cut, you are directed to vocational training.
I agree that the cost of our college are out of control, but working your way through college needs at least two things to happen: 1. tuition, books and fees need to be lowered 2. the minimum wage needs to be raised so that college students (and others who need the jobs) can actually make enough to cover expenses.
For the most part it means that colleges need to examine their priorities on where the money goes.
I also support the idea of government support for colleges. Some states have state colleges but they are also becoming quite expensive. It benefits everyone to have a well educated population. That means good education from pre-school to post-grad. Each student getting the education that they handle and that they want.
bettykath wrote: “There are criteria for getting the college prep courses. If you don’t make the cut, you are directed to vocational training.”
Wow, that is interesting. So even though university is free now, many students will not be admitted even if they want to go.
Bad move for Germany because it will diminish competition and make the university system look like our public high school education. However, we need to get rid of the student loans over here. It teaches financial irresponsibility and makes tuition rates skyrocket out of sight. Students can easily work their way through college like many of us did. If they can’t, then skip college. As Facebook and Google have taught us, a university education has become overrated.
bettykath,
you are spot on that the athletic coaches in the major BCS schools are the usually the highest paid employee on campus by a large margin. And many of the athletes at these schools who are given full rides, do not meet the minimum entrance standards at those schools, with some exceptions.
rafflaw – the athletes meet the minimum standards set by the NCAA. If they do not, they do not play. And a full ride is not really a full ride, it is a partial ride. Having tutored college athletes I am well aware of what they go through. They work a 40 hour week plus take 12 hours of classes during the semester of their sport. Could you do that?
Annie, the highest paid are the football coaches, the basketball coaches, then the administrators. They also spend a lot on amenities, the things that make the college look attractive to prospective students.
In NYC the highest paid employees are the janitors. That is a scandal all of its own.
The big bucks in education go to the college presidents, the principals, etc. Even the top teachers are not making the really big bucks unless they are part of an endowed chair that pays well.
So who is making the big bucks in education?
Germany isn’t alone in providing free tuition. So, too, do Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Brazil. This is not a complete list. Libya did, too, before we deposed Khadafi.
In some of these countries you have to qualify to get in and you stay in only if you are capable of doing the work. Some also charge fees, same as here.
bettykath, Why become an adjunct professor? Sounds like there is to many of them for the market to make it worth paying them.
Jim22 – the hope is that they will hire you full-time. You prove to them your worth and they take you on full-time. In my case, they were not hiring anyone from the state of Arizona. I did not know that. I would have been out of there a lot earlier if I had know that. 🙂
I know of one adjunct professor of history. He has several advanced degrees, including at least one PhD, and an ordained minister. He had to apply for food stamps and additional financial support. His difficulties in getting through THAT process is worthy of a thread all its own.