Hacker News Reader

Comment by chunky1994 | Hacker News Reader

chunky1994

Some context here:

1) This is for one, 4 month term at university in Canada (uwaterloo specifically) for an engineering degree. Other degrees are lesser in cost (math is similar, which includes CS) A lot of the miscellaneous fees drop off in the second term (you only pay them once per year).

2) These are domestic fees, international fees are much higher (approx 3x) but still only around 1/3rd of the international US tuition.

3) This includes residence and food in it.

4) Co-op fees are paid for every term before you go on co-op, engineering typically has 6 terms before we graduate.

5) It is FAR cheaper to live off campus and cook.

6) It is still far cheaper than the US universities (even if you're in state)

EDIT: The image for the fees was for one 4 month term.

View on HN

Would it be cheaper to go study, say in Germany? Education is free and your expenses are food and roof?

If it was possible certainly, however a lot of european universities especially in the Schengen region require the knowledge of a language other than english (whether German, Swiss etc.) for effective learning (a language which is probably not as common in a non-Schengen area).

Furthermore visa and citizenship requirements probably preclude the same for international students, however I'm not too well informed in that regard.

Higher education is not free in Germany. It may seem like "free" compared to the US and Canada, but there are still minor fees. Don't get me wrong, it's vastly cheaper to study in Germany than in other western countries.

To elaborate on "minor fees": For the current semester (6 months), a student at a public university in Cologne pays around €250 [0][1].

For the FH Köln, the exact amount is €246.20. This comprises the following:

* Administrative fee for "Kölner Studentenwerk", providing services such as cheap apartments or help with financial questions: €68.00

* Public transport ticket for the VRS region (around Cologne): €116.80

* Addon ticket for public transport in the whole state (NRW): €48.10

* Fee for the student council ("AStA"): €13.10

* Solidarity contribution (for Eastern Germany): €0.20

There may be additional fees for some courses, such as 100€ for "study material" for distant learning courses. Public universities may also offer some courses that require you to pay, as the FH Köln does for their Master's program for Game Development. However, the vast majority of courses don't require such fees.

Of course, there are also private universities. Their fees are roughly €400-€700/month.

[0] For the FH Köln: https://www.fh-koeln.de/en/academics/fees_5908.php [1] For the University Köln: http://verwaltung.uni-koeln.de/studsek/content/studium/rueck...

Does Germany offer free, higher education for international students? That seems like it would be a significant cost, assuming they don't cap the number of international students at a low number.

"My total expenses from September 2014 to April 2015 was just over $27,000."

That's approximately my student loan amount for 4 years of school (started in September 2005 until my last exam in December 2009) with 4 courses per 4 month semesters (full load with volatile major changes so ended up taking whole range of stuff I was just interested in). I'm sure there's other costs like eating cheap food, long commute ,opportunity cost, and mental health cost.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com