"Most German universities are state-owned and until recently did not charge for tuition; a 2006 education reform measure calls for fees of around €500 per semester from each student"
How does Germany afford to pay University tuition for every student!?!?! Don't they have anything else to pay for? Or are their taxes outrageously high?
2007-04-06 18:50:56 · 19 answers · asked by The Riddler 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
I guess university education is not so expensive compared to the costs for military.A modern fighter jet costs millions, you could teach thousands of students for that.germany only has a pretty small conscription army, so they don't spend much there.
Taxes are more or less west-european average
Only about one fourth of germans attend university, all others start an apprenticeship instead.Not bc the entry tests are difficult (there are none) but most don't meet the school degree requirements (you need Abitur, only one third of all students get that)
About every major german city has one university.Do you really think cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles etc. could not finance a university if they wanted to?
2007-04-09 03:45:38 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
First - all of Europe is structured differently than America so variances in their systems are common. East Germany under the strict Soviet rule had all free education. West Germany with it's U. S. influence was a little different and it had a mix of educational systems. When the Berlin wall came down and East and West Germany reunited the education system began evolving to today's mix. There is very little drain on resources in Germany to pay for a military (since they can't have one since the war ended) so their national budget allows much more money for schools. Their Taxes are higher than ours but their overall economy is good and the standard of living is high.
2007-04-14 13:26:45 · answer #2 · answered by pilot 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Their taxes are high but they also see the benefit of those taxes. Our university's are treated like corporations and are responsible to themselves Europe and most of the rest of the civilized world have tight regulations making sure that their citizens are taken care of first. Our taxes don't seem to be as high until you look at the cost of everything and the added taxes you are paying on them. 33% to the FEDS 8 to 10% to the states and 8,5% on everything you buy which has hidden taxes also. This country also waste more money then the gross national production of other countrys.
2007-04-14 13:04:57 · answer #3 · answered by Don P 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Interesting question and from what I researched US taxes are not that much more different from German !
German taxes are 45% tops , US on the other hand are 33% tops ... but these are just federal level taxes . If you add state taxes of approximately 6-8% you get 39 to 41 % !
Now if you consider social programs like the difference between medical insurance expenses .. it is not much different!
That was on the level of taxation and if you consider the distribution the bad boy is Pentagon.
2007-04-07 02:07:49 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
All the young men in Germany MUST serve in the military for a minimum time of 2 or 3 years.....lots of European countries are like that. No place is perfect!
2007-04-07 13:10:02 · answer #5 · answered by blytle68 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Their taxes are outrageously high. This is common throughout Europe, due to the socialist nature of these countries. In those countries, you literally give more of your paycheck to the government through taxes than you keep yourself.
2007-04-14 00:55:31 · answer #6 · answered by AlanC 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they cant afford it. they also have people collecting hand outs from the government because they lost their high paying job. in germany, you dont have to accept a job for less than you were making and the state pays you. the taxes are high in germany.
2007-04-07 02:02:43 · answer #7 · answered by afterflakes 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Keep in mind that around 22% of the US federal budget is for National Defense. Countries that don't designate that much for their own military have the funds for other things.
2007-04-07 02:17:15 · answer #8 · answered by soloviceus 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
well,no wonder about it.For instance here in Egypt we enter university almost for free(8 Dollars a year):D:D and don't think that the level of ower universities shamfull coz for instance some of their graduates received the NOPE prize like for instance Ahmd zewyl who won it in chemistry.However,there is no enough spaces for the who population so u have to get good marks to have a chance,good not great once,like 70% for instance.Anyway what i want to say is that it may sound surprizing to u Americans but it happen in many other countries
lucky us ;)
2007-04-08 08:51:39 · answer #9 · answered by ami 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
it's not just Germany, this goes for most of W.- Europe.
since you are so keen on Wikipedia , try and find out the differences between USA and Western Europe regarding:
education, medical care, social security, unemployment (benefits), murder rate, homelessness, rich vs. poor, minimum wages .............i could go on and on!
and 'yes' , all this is funded through taxes, but than again: look up what a "society" means!
and state owned doesn't mean government controlled !!!
2007-04-07 02:22:17 · answer #10 · answered by Deprie 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋