I find your basic proposal sympathetic, since I have more or less been following the idea of optimal employment myself, but with different preferences. In that light, I find your advice highly specific, which is very useful for people with similar preferences, but less interesting for others like me.
To add my current personal choice to the mix:
Here in Germany the cost of being enrolled at university is relatively low: from 50-500€ / semester, depending on federal state and university. On the other hand, you get the benefit of being able to work as “Werkstudent”, where you pay only a flat amount of social security, which is usually the largest deduction from income. I work as a programmer on that basis, and have very flexible working hours, and lots of free time to pursue academic interests, and enough money to pay my bills. If I want or need extra money, I can choose to work more. I think this is a good choice if you like to live in an urban environment, especially since most German cities have a good public transport system and biking everywhere is reasonable.
Do you know anything about Germany’s policy on American students attending German universities? I support it would vary depending on the university—but do you know if it’s financially feasible? Or are the prices jacked up for foreigners?
Ich liebe Deutsch, und spreche ein bisschen. Ich wollte schon immer zu gehen nach Deutschland. :-)
Citizenship has no bearing on admission decsisions to German universities, and fees are at most, €500 per semester. You also get heavily subsidised tickets on public transport, and if you can get it the student accomodation is cheap as well. And native English speakers can make a bit of money to a reasonable living teaching English, while studying.
Awesome! Thank you for this. The incredible expense of American universities could quite possibly ruin my life… I’m now seriously considering attempting to transfer to a German one.
What Barry said, however, I have heard that you may not be able to work as a foreign student. But then, I have a colleague from Canada. I’ll ask him for specifics.
Austria may also be a good choice, as there are no admission fees, but I don’t know any details.
I find your basic proposal sympathetic, since I have more or less been following the idea of optimal employment myself, but with different preferences. In that light, I find your advice highly specific, which is very useful for people with similar preferences, but less interesting for others like me.
To add my current personal choice to the mix: Here in Germany the cost of being enrolled at university is relatively low: from 50-500€ / semester, depending on federal state and university. On the other hand, you get the benefit of being able to work as “Werkstudent”, where you pay only a flat amount of social security, which is usually the largest deduction from income. I work as a programmer on that basis, and have very flexible working hours, and lots of free time to pursue academic interests, and enough money to pay my bills. If I want or need extra money, I can choose to work more. I think this is a good choice if you like to live in an urban environment, especially since most German cities have a good public transport system and biking everywhere is reasonable.
Do you know anything about Germany’s policy on American students attending German universities? I support it would vary depending on the university—but do you know if it’s financially feasible? Or are the prices jacked up for foreigners?
Ich liebe Deutsch, und spreche ein bisschen. Ich wollte schon immer zu gehen nach Deutschland. :-)
Citizenship has no bearing on admission decsisions to German universities, and fees are at most, €500 per semester. You also get heavily subsidised tickets on public transport, and if you can get it the student accomodation is cheap as well. And native English speakers can make a bit of money to a reasonable living teaching English, while studying.
German Academic Exchange Service
Awesome! Thank you for this. The incredible expense of American universities could quite possibly ruin my life… I’m now seriously considering attempting to transfer to a German one.
What Barry said, however, I have heard that you may not be able to work as a foreign student. But then, I have a colleague from Canada. I’ll ask him for specifics. Austria may also be a good choice, as there are no admission fees, but I don’t know any details.