The Cost of University in the US

When I tell my friends that I am studying in Germany, the first question I get asked is how much it costs. If you’re from a country with reasonable education costs, you might be surprised by this; surely questions about quality of education or networking opportunities would come first. But where I come from, the US, these are all secondary compared to concerns about the cost of university.

My friends and I grew up with the incredibly expensive US university system, where a year at a public university could set your family back as much as US$30,000 and private universities can easily cost $60,000 a year. Multiply that times four years (or as is becoming increasingly common, five years – just for a bachelor’s degree), and it very quickly adds up to staggering numbers.

You don’t need to have a very firm understanding of finance to realize just how detrimental that can be to a family, even in a country where the average income is $67,000. There are hundreds of thousands of parents who have spent all their retirement money and savings to put their kids through college. In fact, the cost of university is so high that many families simply cannot afford it and are forced to end their children’s education at high school, or consider a career path such as the military just to get a scholarship.

US scholarships – can they really help?

Which brings me to my next point: US scholarships. Many college advisors paint a really beautiful picture of how many people get a scholarship to help cover the cost of university. Well the sad reality is, no matter how good you are academically, the chances of getting a meaningful scholarship are effectively zero. And I have never heard of anyone getting a totally full ride thanks to stellar academics.  

I was in the top 10% of my high school, was club president of FBLA, vice president of Key Club (for two years), took classes at a local college, was a varsity athlete in two sports teams, completed over 250 hours of volunteering over four years, and speak three languages… I applied for about 20 US scholarships over two years, heard back from four and got two. The two I got were each worth $1,000, which is a lot of money until you remember that all the scholarship money I ever received would have paid about 1/60^th of my total education costs or about two semesters worth of textbooks.

This of course all changes if you are good at even the most obscure sport: the moment that happens, you do not pay a dime for university. A friend of mine got a full ride to a major UC because of golf. She now plays golf every day on golf courses around the area on university money.

US student loans – helpful or catastrophic?

Then there comes the worst part of all, US student loans. There are two major kinds: federally subsidized or private student loans. Federally subsidized student loans are provided by the federal government, and students have to pay back the amount with minimal interest, usually just inflation. Still a lot to pay back, but not catastrophic.

On the other hand, catastrophic is a fairly accurate description of the effect private student loans can have. The interest rates are on these loans are usually significantly higher than mortgages or any other commercial loan. And unlike mortgages, you cannot default on student loans… ever. You are stuck to pay them for all of eternity. If you do not pay them off before you retire, banks can take your social security checks. The horror stories are nearly endless.

After all that, we come back to the question of the cost of university here in Germany: for me it comes up to about $12,000 a year including all expenses, and I’m living in the second most expensive city in Germany. All in all, the best advice I can give you is to try to minimize how much you spend on your studies, wherever you are. Math is difficult regardless of whether you study it in Germany or the US, one just costs a lot more.