EdNext Podcast: Free College Tuition: Lessons from Germany

Students walk through the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. (Photo by Eric Gay/Corbis Images)
Students walk through the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. (Photo by Eric Gay/Corbis Images)

With the prospect of free college tuition attracting many young voters to the candidacy of Bernie Sanders, EdNext’s Paul Peterson talks with Ludger Woessmann of the Ifo Institute in Munich about  free higher education in Germany.

As Woessmann explains, German universities have traditionally charged no tuition or fees.  When a German Supreme Court ruling ten years ago allowed state governments to begin charging fees, some states introduced fees. However, the fees proved to be politically unpopular and were later abolished.

Woessman and Peterson discuss what survey research reveals about support for free higher education and consider the prospects for income-contingent tuition repayment plans.

The EdNext Podcast is available on iTunesSoundcloudStitcher and here every Wednesday.

– Education Next

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