Although there may be a shortage of student housing in Germany, most of what was described in "Wo Studenten wohnen" sounded pretty good to me. I understand that it's unfair that such a small percentage of the student body has access to affordable housing, but here in the States there is no part of the University experience that is affordable. Even if you attend a public university the fees will come to several thousand dollars a year, and if you go to a private university, forget about it. Tuition alone is comparable to the annual salary of a recent graduate. Housing here (at least in my day) was perhaps slightly more affordable than renting an apartment, but only slightly. Plus, you often have to share a bedroom which is now inconceivable to me. I decided to get my own apartment my Junior year of college because, even in New York, I could get more bang for my buck on the open market in comparison to what NYU offered in the dormitories. In France, I think many students live at home during their college years - is this not the case in Germany? Do most students attend college far from home, thus necessitating their own place to live, or do university-age students choose to move out at this point in their lives?
On a separate note, I didn't realize Ann Arbor had a reciprocal agreement with Tübingen. That makes the Anna Adler story much more interesting to me!
:-) You comment made me think about the "Whining, Bitching and Moaning" article we read - that it is a national past time to complain even about all the great things that are available in Germany - and the affordable student housing (although not for all) is out there with the other things.
AntwortenLöschenAlso, as we talked in class today - a German university Mensa is also a pretty amazing thing, where you do get great food (at least most of the times), and probably pay about 2.5 Euros for the meal.
Here is a link to a recent menu at one of the Mensa(s) at the University of Tuebingen:
http://www.my-stuwe.de/cms/80/1/1/art/WasgibtesheuteinderMensaSpeiseplaene.html
It's true, as soon as University starts, less than 5% of the students still live with their parents. I would say. In smaller cities like Tübingen or Freiburg, a lot of them are living in quite affordable dormitories (just because there aren't that many appartments available) while that's less the case in Hamburg or Berlin.
AntwortenLöschenI noticed the particular Ann Arbor - Tübingen relationship, too!