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How to get funding for graduate school
Info on student loans etc. in Germany
I am relativly new to the forums here, and I love them so far, they have been a very big help. With that said I still have a few questions that I hope I can get some direction on, or any direction at all for that matter. Here's the deal;I am a 25 year old American guy who recently graduated college with my bacheolrs degree. I want to go to the University of Freiburg for their masters in linguistics. I have been all over the website, and even called them the other day, but the only people who could speak English (I'm not good enough in German yet) had no idea how to help me. I have no idea how to get student loans or the sort in Germany. If anyone who has any advise or experience on the matter can help. iot would be very much appreciated. Thanks.
Hey,
Did the other people's links help? How much money do you have yourself? How much are you planning on earning?
Now, the tuition itself isn't that high (500 euros per semester, plus various fees, probably bringing you up to about 600 euros per semester, which is $1630 dollars per year at the current exchange rate). However, you have to keep things like room and board in mind too. When I was in Freiburg, I was living fine off 500 euros per month total.
Now, in Freiburg, rent can be very cheap for a student, but rent in general is considered rather high. I lived in student housing (I lived in 3 different places, StuSie, Thomas Moras Borse and Stuehlinger), and my cheapest rent, which included everything (Internet, electricity, heating, etc) ran for under 200 euros per month (I had a private bedroom with a shared bathroom). When I got married, I moved into a 2 room, 60 square meter apartment (60 m^2 is about 650 ft^2). That cost about 620 euros per month (after heating, water, etc).
Freiburg is small and the public transit is cheap for students. You will pay about 140 euros per year for a pass that will get you on all the busses and local trains. Since Freiburg is so small and the traffic is mostly kept outside, you'll find you can bike anywhere you want. Do not buy a car in Freiburg unless you really want to pay loads for it (parking, insurance, gas, tickets for parking in the wrong space, etc).
So, I didn't help you with the issue of getting student loans... I can tell you this: there is a far less robust system for student financing in Germany than in the States. The one in the States grew probably to a large extent out of need. So far, student fees have been low enough, and those who are "smart enough" to study have been rich enough, that studying doesn't put too big a dent in people's pockets. Also, Germans, as a general rule, don't do loans (not like in the US, in any case).
Check in and see what you can do for jobs while you are over there. Your visa will have restrictions, but they might be enough for you to live off of.
So, I don't know the answer to your question, but I hope I gave you a couple pointers.
-Michael
Did the other people's links help? How much money do you have yourself? How much are you planning on earning?
Now, the tuition itself isn't that high (500 euros per semester, plus various fees, probably bringing you up to about 600 euros per semester, which is $1630 dollars per year at the current exchange rate). However, you have to keep things like room and board in mind too. When I was in Freiburg, I was living fine off 500 euros per month total.
Now, in Freiburg, rent can be very cheap for a student, but rent in general is considered rather high. I lived in student housing (I lived in 3 different places, StuSie, Thomas Moras Borse and Stuehlinger), and my cheapest rent, which included everything (Internet, electricity, heating, etc) ran for under 200 euros per month (I had a private bedroom with a shared bathroom). When I got married, I moved into a 2 room, 60 square meter apartment (60 m^2 is about 650 ft^2). That cost about 620 euros per month (after heating, water, etc).
Freiburg is small and the public transit is cheap for students. You will pay about 140 euros per year for a pass that will get you on all the busses and local trains. Since Freiburg is so small and the traffic is mostly kept outside, you'll find you can bike anywhere you want. Do not buy a car in Freiburg unless you really want to pay loads for it (parking, insurance, gas, tickets for parking in the wrong space, etc).
So, I didn't help you with the issue of getting student loans... I can tell you this: there is a far less robust system for student financing in Germany than in the States. The one in the States grew probably to a large extent out of need. So far, student fees have been low enough, and those who are "smart enough" to study have been rich enough, that studying doesn't put too big a dent in people's pockets. Also, Germans, as a general rule, don't do loans (not like in the US, in any case).
Check in and see what you can do for jobs while you are over there. Your visa will have restrictions, but they might be enough for you to live off of.
So, I don't know the answer to your question, but I hope I gave you a couple pointers.
-Michael
I guess I was spoiled in the sciences. I wouldn't have dreamt of going to a graduate school that wouldn't pay me to go there. Do all humanities students actually have to pay for graduate school?
Just a word of warning to you - I went to grad school in Germany after getting a bachelor's degree in the US. They made a big deal about how superior their German Diplom degree was and made me do extra coursework in order to enter the PhD program (I also had to take their Hauptdiplompruefungen). In the end, it was a big waste of time, since their "superior" Diplom courses were identical to US undergraduate courses, so I just ended up repeating coursework I'd already done in the US.
Just a word of warning to you - I went to grad school in Germany after getting a bachelor's degree in the US. They made a big deal about how superior their German Diplom degree was and made me do extra coursework in order to enter the PhD program (I also had to take their Hauptdiplompruefungen). In the end, it was a big waste of time, since their "superior" Diplom courses were identical to US undergraduate courses, so I just ended up repeating coursework I'd already done in the US.
They wouldn't do that to me with an MA, would they? *eep*
No, they shouldn't. They consider their Diplom to be equivalent to a master's degree, even though - at least in the sciences - it's not. All my problems were because I had a US bachelor's degree and not a master's going in to their PhD program. As far as I could tell going through the whole process, there seem to be some huge misconceptions about the American system.
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