"free university tuition" ->
Not true anymore, it's more like 300-600 Euros per semester. Still not much compared to the US but enough for german students to protest and public banks to create state-sponsored student loans. This type of loan for students was unknown before in Germany.
(As an American) the first time I heard about people not going to university in Germany because they couldn't afford it I pretty much gave up all hope for humanity. Some people just don't know how lucky they are.
Well, it is true for at least some of the states.
For the other ones (I'm in Baden-Württemberg), it's usually 500 Euros + 1xx Euros of fees per semester.
Also: I recently read an article (sorry, no link) about student loans in Germany. Apparently, there are about 20-30 banks that offer "student loans". Only 3-4 actually offer something that is limited to students and apparently most of the banks want to move away from keeping those "special" deals arround
Are there state-provided student loans in Germany? Here in the Netherlands there have been for years (decades maybe? - I'm an immigrant here, my knowledge only goes back 15 years or so ;) )
The school I want to attend here in the states costs $250 per credit hour. A bachelor's degree (4-year) is 120 credit hours. It's $30,000 USD. I know salaries in some parts of the EU are behind the US in terms of buying power within their respective countries, but even at 500 Euros, you're not paying anywhere near like what we're paying for school, even adjusted for your local wages.
A better comparison might be to compare countries in the EU to states in the US. Some states use the lottery to provide tuition to any in-state student going to a state school.
