The Best German Colleges for Student Loan Dodgers
Our European friends are more focused on education than money. It's a crazy idea, but it just might work.
The average American college costs between $20K and 60K a year, which evens out to roughly 5K a semester at the very cheapest. That’s $4,880 more than the average German college.
Why is German higher ed so much cheaper? Because the country is devoted to the idea that college admittance shouldn’t be a product of social status and that education should always be a sound financial decision. Hard to argue with that — especially given how accepting they are of foreign students.
If you’re looking for affordable higher education, these are the top five German schools, according to the latest rankings:
1.Technical University of Berlin.
Established 1799.
Notable Alumni: Konrad Zuse Walter Kaufmann.
It’s for you if… You want to study science, business, or engineering then spend the night clubbing, you’ll want to relocate to Europe’s unofficial Boho capital. Your mind will end up being expanded on many levels.
2. University of Freiberg
Established 1457. Notable Alumni: Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt.
Notable Alumni: Martin Heidegger Hannah Arendt. It’s for you if… You want to study humanities or natural sciences, study in a gothic revival library, go to school in a setting that’s smaller than Berlin yet still a city, and enjoy the picturesque surrounding and awesome architecture.
3. Free University of Berlin Notable Alumni: Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit, Nobel Prize Winner Gerhard Ertl.
Established 1948.
Notable Alumni: Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit Nobel Prize Winner Gerhard Ertl.
It’s for you if… you’re interested in Cold War history with an anti-establishment flair, as the “free” in the title refers to being free of Soviet-occupied Berlin and you like gardens, as it’s in Dahlem, Berlin’s residential garden district.
4.University of Munich
Established 1472.
Notable Alumni: Max Planck Nazi resistance group and all around badasses, White Rose.
It’s for you if… You want to be in a Metropolis that the school informs you has more than just “soccer, beer, and lederhosen”, you like soccer, beer, and lederhosen; as that means it’s surely found there, you want to go to a prestigious university home to 34 nobel laureates, and you want to go to one of Germany’s most populace schools, with a student body of over 50,000.
5. Humboldt University Of Berlin.
Established 1810.
Notable Alumni: Arthur Schopenhauer; Herman Smith-Johannsen (the guy who brought cross country skiing to North America).
It’s for you if… You want to go to one of the most prestigious universities in Europe that boasts over 29 Nobel Prize Winners, you want to study arts and humanities, you want to be near Unter den Linden, a street known as Berlin’s most beautiful boulevard that boasts a pedestrian mall.
