I consider myself very lucky. I did my undergrad and never struggled with money. My parent never supported me with a dime since they didn't have much. I didn't have any scholarships. I saved up some money from high school and used that for the first year of college, then started working as an co-op. How did I do it? I went to school in Germany. That's also where I'm from. Back then there was no tuition and I only paid 120 Euros of administration fee per semester. I had it easy. I could study freely, I had everything I needed and the beer at the universities' vending machine was cheap. Life was good. Back then in 2004 I never read any English/US news or community web sites. I didn't know what college was like over there.
After I graduate came to the US and I've been living in a typical college town at the east coast for ~7 years. I have many undergrad and graduate friends most of which are American. I'm _BAFFLED_ at the simple acceptance of this rip-off fucked up higher education system. It's not even a topic ever that our local University President just raised tuition by another 5% this year. And a ~40% raise in the last couple year. In Germany, they started talking about introducing a 500 Euro tuition in 2006(?) and introduced it in 2007. Students where furious, they protested on the streets, they occupied the main buildings. They raised there voices. They started petitions. The press was on our side. They introduced them and students investigated on how the tuition was going to be used (contract only allowed to use it towards better education and not for maintenance/bills) and problems were discovered. Long story short: In 2013/2014 there is only one state left that still has a tuition of 500 Euros. The rest abandoned it all.
I have asked this question many times:
Why do Americans not protest?
Take the French: they kidnapped their CEO and threatened to kill them (~2009). They burned down parts of their factory. They raise their voice. Yet, with a ridiculous policy here in the US, I see nothing ever happen. I heard there was some protest about PRISM in S.F. last week. I frankly missed the coverage about that since it may have been to small. There were bigger protests about PRISM in Germany last week. This is sad and I don't understand it.
Students of America: Stop wining on Internet forum, they do not tend to often get coverage of the media.
You want main stream TV coverage: Go on the streets and protest.
With respect, it seems wrong to suggest kidnapping people and threatening to kill them unless they indirectly finance your education.
There are real expenses associated with running a university. Professors and staff have to be paid; buildings have to be maintained; supplies have to be purchased, etc.
Higher education in Germany is socialized. Socialism is EVIL, it will kill Grandma while she sleeps. Do I really need a sarcasm tag here?
We will all still pay for it, just with higher taxes for everyone all the time, not just students while they are in school. That kind of reform will never happen in the US, because we are afraid of it. We are afraid of the dreaded socialism, even though our primary education is free and socialized, also incredible uneven because it is funded by local property taxes.
Germany is über authoritarian, and the authorities are selected to be fairly intelligent. They tend to solve problems with elaborate, well thought out plans. (Sometimes based on mistaken assumptions, like energy policy.)
America is fairly democratic. We do not have plans, we have slogans that appeal to the dumbest 51% of the population. The problem is emotion-driven electioneering, and mass protests would only make it worse.
After I graduate came to the US and I've been living in a typical college town at the east coast for ~7 years. I have many undergrad and graduate friends most of which are American. I'm _BAFFLED_ at the simple acceptance of this rip-off fucked up higher education system. It's not even a topic ever that our local University President just raised tuition by another 5% this year. And a ~40% raise in the last couple year. In Germany, they started talking about introducing a 500 Euro tuition in 2006(?) and introduced it in 2007. Students where furious, they protested on the streets, they occupied the main buildings. They raised there voices. They started petitions. The press was on our side. They introduced them and students investigated on how the tuition was going to be used (contract only allowed to use it towards better education and not for maintenance/bills) and problems were discovered. Long story short: In 2013/2014 there is only one state left that still has a tuition of 500 Euros. The rest abandoned it all.
I have asked this question many times:
Why do Americans not protest?
Take the French: they kidnapped their CEO and threatened to kill them (~2009). They burned down parts of their factory. They raise their voice. Yet, with a ridiculous policy here in the US, I see nothing ever happen. I heard there was some protest about PRISM in S.F. last week. I frankly missed the coverage about that since it may have been to small. There were bigger protests about PRISM in Germany last week. This is sad and I don't understand it.
Students of America: Stop wining on Internet forum, they do not tend to often get coverage of the media.
You want main stream TV coverage: Go on the streets and protest.