Conny's Corner: EU students

Showing posts with label EU students. Show all posts

German tuition fees: it could be worse!

Students in Germany often complain about their tuition fees of 500 Euro per semester, plus 200 Euro "social fees" for the Student Union etc.

I had no choice but to study in the United Kingdom, because my course is the only B.A. (Hons) Travel Journalism degree in Europe. Currently, tuition fees in England amount to £3.225 per academic year, and this amount is increasing every year. The government is talking about raising the fees to £5.000 or even £7.000. Maybe fees this high are not a problem for spoilt Eton boys, but we "normal" students are already struggling to pay for tuition and live a little on the side. After all, these fees do not include rent, food or anything else.

At German universities, you get your money's worth for the fees you're paying. You get an annotated syllabus, all the lecture notes, printing credit and the "social fee" covers meals at the canteen and a monthly young person's bus- and railcard, to mention but a few advantages.

In England you get - well, lectures. That's it! Everything else has to be paid on top of the fees. My university is the University of Cumbria, proudly proclaiming itself the newest university in England (inaugurated in August 2007), but for me, it is easily the worst uni I have ever heard of! That has nothing to do with lecturers or teaching standards, but if a university closes two, in their time purpose-built libraries - first the Law and Management libary at Milbourne Street, and in 2009 the Art library at Brampton Road, you do begin to think that maybe they have no clue what they are doing. After all, this library situation forced thousands of third year students to dish out for books they need for their dissertations, on top of paying £3.225 for essentially half a year of studies. Tuition does not include meals at the canteen, let alone a railcard.

Getting financial help in England is also tricky if you're an EU student. You can't get the bursaries all your peers areentitled to, because you haven't been living in the UK for three years before you started your course. If you're lucky, a charity will take pity, but they usually only help in extreme circumstances. The student loan is an option, but there is no way to reduce your fees. In Germany, you can work for the faculty, or help as a researcher, and in return, you only pay the social fee. There is even an organisation that sends you stationery - paper, post-its, pens etc. - at the beginning of every semester for free, as long as you are a student and can prove it.

Cumbrian Bursary

Finally some good news!

I've just got a letter from the University of Cumbria, informing me, that I am going to receive a small bursary in form of their Cumbria Bursary for EU students!

This is the first response I've had from the university, since I wrote a letter of complaint to their Finance Department last month, after they tried to take out my tuition fee without warning or approval.

I discovered in October (embarrassingly when I wanted to pay for Sunday Lunch), that all my money was gone, although I had just paid money into my account. It turned out, that after two years of me paying my tuition fees myself, the UoC had decided to take two payments (a total of more than GBP 1,070) out in one go, without sending me a letter informing me of payments amounts and dates. I therefore decided to cancel the direct debit, and informed the university, that I am still in the process of applying for my student loan (which I still haven't heard from - all I know is they're assessing it) and I will therefore not make payments, until I have heard back from Student Finance.

Up until today, I still haven't received a letter about tuition fee payments, or an official response to my complaint. But I will count awarding me this bursary towards it - after all, why else would they all of a sudden send money my way?

Conny's Corner

German tuition fees: it could be worse!

Cumbrian Bursary

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