Bwaaahaaaa!

[estepheia]

Spiegel.de on College fees:
The funny part is this:
Studiengebühren von rund 500 Euro pro Semester seien auch für ärmere Studenten problemlos ohne Kredite zu finanzieren, sagt Bayerns Wissenschaftsminister Thomas Goppel. Sie müssten lediglich "jeden Monat für hundert Euro auf etwas verzichten oder zwei Nachhilfestunden geben".
Even poorer students should be able to pay fees of about 500 EUR per semester , without taking a loan, the Bavarian Secretary of Education Thomas Goppel said. "All they have to do is cut their spending by 100 EUR per month, or give two lessons."

Hubby said laughingly that 50 EUR per hour is not a bad rate and that we should pack our bags and move to Bavaria. I'm pretty sure Herr Goppel meant to say 'two lessons every week'. That would make it 12 EUR per hour, which is still a lot more than what I get. The thing that gets me is that he thinks that students can easily save 100 EUR every month. Clearly, that man needs to buy a clue.

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Want to write all the stuff I didn't get done yesterday, but I have to shop, clean the kitchen, cook, pick up Toyah from kindergarten, write one or two poems for tonight's Open Mic (we read in English). Waaah. *panicks*

Comments

[meko00.livejournal.com]

Eek. IIRC, our current college fee is about 55 EUR/semester (well, in SEK). Of course, that's the least of our costs, as paying for textbooks is more or less highway robbery, and then the rent and travelling expenses and food and taxes and, and...

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, expenses are high in Germany too. They introduced the fees to deterr long-term students from clogging up the universities, but it was clear from the start that they would expand the system to all students. Fucktards.

[meko00.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know. But it's still much cheaper to bulk up on most stuff in e.g. Hamburg than buying it here. And student aid is only given for 12 semesters and with the proviso of passing 15 of 20 points (one point per week). And well, we have to choose subject(s) for next term just 1 month in, which often is before any exams have been given. So, lots of people fail. :-/

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

That sounds awful. And stressful.
Our old system wasn't good, people took too long, but it's not surprising: people work, it's easy to lose impetus. Everything drags on. I'm glad I left, although I sometimes bemoan the absence of a degree to show for many years of studying.

[meko00.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, the proviso can be 30 points of 40 for 2 semesters, if you tell the agency beforehand. And the application thing doesn't apply for those on special programmes (law, medicine, engineers, economics, teachers etc), which as of September last includes me, hooray (translation). And there is the option of loans, which of course often are left to linger and leech of the tax payers as this is Sweden we're talking about. And the Socialists don't want people to educate themselves, as that would make them realise the inherent injustices of the system, so they're doing everything to sabotage the universities and higher institutions e.g. move the National Heritage Board (http://www.raa.se/about/index.asp) from Stockholm to the small island of Gotland, which is dead during the winter, so that the qualified personnel will quit. Because competence is not valued here, as that would be denigrating to the morons who don't mind not even trying to find work. Because jobs *are* available here. 20% of the grownups live on the taxpayers, and not all of those are incapacitated or unwanted. I don't mind paying taxes for welfare or health reasons, but I do mind paying for those who abuse the system, as I pay quite a lot. And I don't even work yet./rant

[daiseechain.livejournal.com]

They did the same to New Zealand back in around 1989. Result? All the students had to take out loans that were so large, they could never hope to pay them back. Now, nearly everyone who graduates, leaves the country and doesn't come back, because we can never afford to pay off the loan from the government. The exodus has become a crisis. All our best and brightest leave and make money for other countries.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

I didn't know this - but it makes sense. I guess that will happen here too. It's not like Germans have a strong national pride, they don't mind moving to other countries and staying there...

[blondegirlchris.livejournal.com]

my college fee is already 150 eur, and although i used to earn 12 eur per hour for tutorials and do another job now, i really would not have time to do another job. not to mention that there really are no more jobs for students around here.
as i have no money left at the end of the month, i am lucky to study in rheinland pfalz where the government just established the studienkontenmodell, where there will be no fee for the first 4-5 years.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

*nod* Yeah, that's the standard. Most students work or live on peanuts. I don't see where they are supposed to get the money from.
*shakes head*

I had good news though. The kid I teach, well, from now on I will get paid to do so (so far it was just a trial run).
Now that money's involved I have to be more concientious and make decent plans and reports. *boggle*

[http://users.livejournal.com/tesserae_/]

When I lived in Italy a few years ago the going pay for English lessons was 15k-25k lire an hour, roughly $8 - $13 (not quite 15 Euro in other words). That's quite a few lessons - and I notice Goppel doesn't mention what students should be giving lessons in...

Here in the US the amounts they establish for, say, the official poverty line wouldn't buy *lunch* for most politicians for a month. Sounds just as unrealistic where you are, I must say.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Ha! I will get paid for the tuition I give. The past two months were 'diagnostics', but now the girl's mother and I talked about money. Whoohooo. I will have to put in more hours now, develop a proper strategy, now that I know where the girl's problems lie, but I can make up to 100 EUR per month. Whoohooo!!

Where is the official poverty line in the US?

[http://users.livejournal.com/tesserae_/]

Oh, congratulations on taking on a student who can pay you well! A friend of mine is an educational therapist tutoring teenagers with learning disabilities and she does *very* well financially...I do some of that kind of tutoring with my adult students and while it's hard work, it's very satisfying to see them succeed.

As to the US poverty level: from this US Census Bureau pdf (http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p60-226.pdf) I found out that the poverty level is about $19,000 for a family of four - about half the median income. In Europe it's calculated at 60%. For a single person it's a little less than $10,000.

How one keeps body and soul together on that kind of money I have no earthly idea, but that's the level at which people are expected to be self-sufficient - it's hard to get gov't benefits if your income's above that. And not surprisingly, poverty in this country is rising. As some comedian at the inauguration said, well, in the war on poverty, the poor lost. (The crowd applauded mightily. Asshats.)

/rant

And congratulations again...

[netweight]

Obviously, this "not in touch with reality" is a general maladie of politicians everywhere. How not comforting.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

LOL. No kidding.

I blame the fact that politicians often come from the law faculty. Bloodsuckers.

[daiseechain.livejournal.com]

What is about politicians around the world, that they forget what it was like to be a student? Or maybe it's just that none of them were ever poor students. Their mummies and daddies paid for the upkeep of their Porsche while they were studying hard...

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Yup, I believe there is truth in that. Not all politicians, obviously, but many seem to be groomed in law school or follow their dad's footsteps. *igh*