When I was in TÂbingen, a banner used to hang down the front of the Hegelbau, the building where I had my weekly history seminar. It had a grim message for the student body: “The bomb is ticking. Protect yourselves!” Next to the words was a little spherical bomb, like the kind you see in old cartoons, with a lit fuse and the words “tuition fees” written on it.
It’s hard for us to believe, but German students aren’t used to the idea of having to pay for their education. In the spirit of egalitarianism of the ’60s, tuition was abolished at German universities (all of which are publicly funded). But the universities have fallen on hard times. They are terribly under-funded, which means that seminars are too big and departments have to scrimp everywhere they can: one of my history professors told the class to help out on the electric bills by turning off the lights when we didn’t need them!
In the mid-90s, political pressure started building to make students bear part of the financial burden. Small changes were made. All students had to pay a very modest semester fee (in TÂbingen in 2004, this was 57 Euros or $75). Students who overstayed their welcome (by taking too long to finish their degrees) began paying a more substantial fee. And recently, the pressure has built to force true “tuition fees” on everyone, especially in more conservative German states like Baden-WÂrttemberg, where TÂbingen is located.
The proponents of tuition fees scored a major victory last Wednesday. The Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe struck down a federal law banning the fees: education, and therefore fees, is primarily the responsibility of the states, not the federal government. Several states are already moving to put in place new fees of around 500 euros ($650). Some other states, fearing a flood of students, have discussed raising fees only for out-of-state students.
Think about that: some German university systems are struggling to keep students out. That’s because they aren’t rationing education by price and aren’t good at choosing students. Admissions procedures are extremely complex, especially since German universities do not provide a liberal arts education; students choose their major at the beginning. Certain majors have a “numerus clausus,” a minimum GPA required for acceptance, or other special requirements; some majors admit anyone qualified who shows up.
Compare that to here: American universities compete for the most qualified students, and students compete for the best universities. That’s because of several factors: a competitive mix of private and public institutions, high tuition and a thorough application process. In a very real sense, American students can act like consumers, applying to multiple schools and picking the program that is best for them. That provides a steady impetus for schools to improve themselves and meet student needs.
At Washington University, we students often say that the administration cares more about our ranking in U.S. News & World Report and impressing pre-freshmen than taking care of the students who are actually here. Nobody really fully believes the joke, but there is some truth in it: because universities are competitive, they have to reach out to potential customers. And that ensures that students are faced with a variety of programs and degree paths that help them achieve their life goals.
By contrast, Germany’s universities are almost entirely geared towards training academics, leaving lower institutions of higher education to provide more practical training. Advocates of tuition fees hope that they will lead to an environment in which universities treat students as customers, rather than a captive audience. Also, students will begin thinking more like consumers, trying to enter the most desirable programs and get the most bang for their buck. One German economist has estimated that tuition will have to rise to 2,500 euros per semester to achieve this goal.
But being a customer means more than just paying money: it means competition among producers. German universities are all financed by state governments, and so it is easy to think of them all as being part of the same machine. If German universities want to become the best in the world once again, they must increasingly think of each other as competitors. Admissions procedures should become more than a way to weed out students from a pool that is too large: they should try to identify the best students and encourage them to come to a particular university.
Nevertheless, tuition hikes are a step in the right direction. Before students hit the streets in protest, they should think if they might be shooting themselves in the foot.