BERLIN — Germany's eternal university students received a blow to their right to study on and on at taxpayers' expense after a top court upheld a state's right to charge tuition to students who have outstayed their academic welcome.
Baden-Wuerttemberg is the only German state to have implemented a fee for longtime students, charging $448 per semester for those who continue their studies after seven years. Four students who brought the case to court claimed the fee was unconstitutional, violating the right to choose one's occupation freely.
But in its ruling Wednesday, the Berlin-based Federal Administrative Court said the state was justified in instituting the fees to reduce the burden on taxpayers.
Germany's education minister said the trend of students studying for years appears to be coming to an end. "Students should have the responsibility of finishing studies in a certain time," Edelgard Bulmahn said Wednesday on German television.
German university students take their freedom to study seriously, spending an average of just over six years to complete studies in their chosen major, according to federal statistics for 1999, the latest available. With study abroad or other delays from taking classes in different fields or working while in school, the average student spends 13.5 semesters at college — just under seven years.
With military service and breaks to tour the world or work, the average German university student leaves the ivory tower of academia at the ripe age of more than 28.
But student groups argue that tuition fees won't shorten the time students stay at university, and instead will lead to poor students being shut out of further study and others simply quitting rather than earning their diplomas.
"This will merely increase social division," said Olaf Bartz of the Action Alliance against Study Fees.
He also pointed out that long study is generally required in fields such as engineering and information technology — areas where German industry has complained about a lack of qualified workers.
Students eating lunch on the sunny lawn outside one of Berlin's student cafeterias admitted some of their counterparts could benefit from a financial incentive to get themselves ready for the job market.
"If you don't pay for something then it's not worth anything to yourself," said Peter Stauber, 24, a law student who says he will take five years to finish his degree because of a year spent abroad. "People who study for seven, eight or nine years don't want to finish but just have a good time."
Christina Frohne, 26, another law student who also expects to take five years to finish, said lawmakers should remember that some students from poorer backgrounds take longer to finish because they have to work in addition to studying.
"Everyone should have the chance to study, it shouldn't be determined by money," she said. "It's already expensive enough to pay the rent when you don't earn anything."