American students head to Germany for free college • Hacker News Board

Re: American students head to Germany for free college

#11

Post by clusterbits » Thu, Apr 02, 2015, 8:47 AM UTC

jacalata wrote: post #6

tsotha wrote: post #2

How could this possibly make sense to German taxpayers?

From the article: >Germany wants these international students here, even though their taxpayers foot the bill. >“Germany is not a country that's growing,” Malone says. “Its population is not growing. They need people, they need immigrants. They want to be a migration country.” >Think about it this way: it’s a global game of collecting talent. All of these students are the trading cards, and the collectors are countri…

True. There is big discussion on how to pay benefits in the future and how to stay competitive in global markets. To me the only way to solve this two problems is to attract smart people from foreign countries.

Re: American students head to Germany for free college

#12

Post by sz4kerto » Thu, Apr 02, 2015, 8:50 AM UTC

clusterbits wrote: post #11

jacalata wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article: >Germany wants these international students here, even though their taxpayers foot the bill. >“Germany is not a country that's growing,” Malone says. “Its population is not growing. They need people, they need immigrants. They want to be a migration country.” >Think about it this way: it’s a global game of collecting talent. All of these students are the trading cards, and the collectors are countri…

True. There is big discussion on how to pay benefits in the future and how to stay competitive in global markets. To me the only way to solve this two problems is to attract smart people from foreign countries.

Look at Singapore, where 40% of the population is immigrant.

Re: American students head to Germany for free college

#13

Post by jsonne » Thu, Apr 02, 2015, 8:50 AM UTC

Daishiman wrote: post #3

tsotha wrote: post #2

How could this possibly make sense to German taxpayers?

> According to the DAAD, half of foreign students getting a degree in Germany will stay. That's not just in the short term either — 40 percent of students plan on remaining for at least 10 years. In the U.S., only 12 percent of international students opt to stay for even one year That probably makes financial sense. Of course, it doesn't scale, but for the number of people studying right now it's probably a net benef…

Germany has an abysmal fertility rate. It's probably in their best interest to attract young educated workers with subsidized college.

Re: American students head to Germany for free college

#14

Post by davidw » Thu, Apr 02, 2015, 8:52 AM UTC

omegaham wrote: post #9

tsotha wrote: post #2

How could this possibly make sense to German taxpayers?

They'll make it back with the increased business. You're having a large number of people come to Germany, make friendships, and learn the language. Some will stay. Some will do business with German companies even when they move back to the US. Also, the program is selective, which means that you're hopefully only grabbing decent people and not riffraff. This further maximizes your return.

I think riffraff went to the university here in Italy: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=riffraff :-)

Re: American students head to Germany for free college

#15

Post by sonium » Thu, Apr 02, 2015, 8:57 AM UTC

tsotha wrote: post #2

How could this possibly make sense to German taxpayers?

Beside what was already said, one needs to consider that German universities have a much lower expense per student. This is because the universities have a chronic lack of money. This means that little is invested into 'feel good' facilities e.g. university run Gyms / extensive libraries. From my experience they offer little that is not essential to studying, but this doesn't keep them from providing a great education.

Re: American students head to Germany for free college

#16

Post by sonium » Thu, Apr 02, 2015, 8:57 AM UTC

tsotha wrote: post #2

How could this possibly make sense to German taxpayers?

Beside what was already said, one needs to consider that German universities have a much lower expense per student. This is because the universities have a chronic lack of money. This means that little is invested into 'feel good' facilities e.g. university run Gyms / extensive libraries. From my experience they offer little that is not essential to studying, but this doesn't keep them from providing a great education.

Re: American students head to Germany for free college

#17

Post by gigigigihkv » Thu, Apr 02, 2015, 9:01 AM UTC

sonium wrote: post #15

tsotha wrote: post #2

How could this possibly make sense to German taxpayers?

Beside what was already said, one needs to consider that German universities have a much lower expense per student. This is because the universities have a chronic lack of money. This means that little is invested into 'feel good' facilities e.g. university run Gyms / extensive libraries. From my experience they offer little that is not essential to studying, but this doesn't keep them from providing a great educatio…

That's contrary to all my experiences. Gym/sports/languages courses/... are easily on par with US private unis, except less expensive.

Re: American students head to Germany for free college

#18

Post by drvd » Thu, Apr 02, 2015, 9:02 AM UTC

tsotha wrote: post #2

How could this possibly make sense to German taxpayers?

Germans are not so obsessed about not paying taxes like e.g. Americans or Swiss. Nobody likes to pay taxes and everybody complains about the high taxes. But I think (actually hope!) that Germans understand (if only unconsciously) that happiness is much more depending on getting old without fear of poverty, knowing to be treated if ill, being able to go safely outside anytime anywhere, not dropping out of society if bad luck happens and getting proper education than on the single only monetary principle "I don't pay taxes!".

Re: American students head to Germany for free college

#19

Post by wongarsu » Thu, Apr 02, 2015, 9:03 AM UTC

tsotha wrote: post #2

How could this possibly make sense to German taxpayers?

According to the article there are about 100 American Students at the University of Cologne. That should be about 1% of the students. Having 1% more students more who pay exactly as much as domestic students isn't something that concerns me as German taxpayer, even if there would be no benefit for us. If I would have a problem with our budget there would be much bigger fish to fry.

Re: American students head to Germany for free college

#20

Post by aikah » Thu, Apr 02, 2015, 9:05 AM UTC

tsotha wrote: post #2

How could this possibly make sense to German taxpayers?

The question is how could that expensive US education could possibly make sense for americans?

In Europe,in most countries, education is virtually free, just look at the cost of law school or med school in France or Belgium for instance. It's what $500 dollars a year at most?

Of course there are plenty of private schools in Europe, but even these are usually half the cost of American ones.

I graduated in computer science, in France. 4 years of college education cost me, what, 1000$ at most?

Now sure, I pay a LOT of taxes. But I know at least some of it goes into education and allow other student like I was to afford a good education. Having stayed in US for a while, while salaries seemed higher I don't think the cost of life is cheaper than in western Europe.