Comment by seanmcdirmid
1 day ago
European colleges are incredibly thrifty, though. German universities for example can lack dorms, student unions, and professors lack TAs to grade homework (so homework isn't graded) and your entire grade depends on one final.
We could do this in the USA also, or perhaps even bother with online universities, except those are generally considered not very useful as degrees.
I can't agree with your experience regarding German universities. Usually dorms are offered by the university but students usually just rent a room in the city.
I've had to submit weekly sheets that were graded in almost all courses and these qualify for the final exam (in STEM). There were two exercise groups with competent ta to ask questions..
What's missing is some kind of Disneyland experience, student unions also exist to some degree but it's more low key.
Not saying that German university is better or worse - I'm convinced it has it's own problems that only will get worse if nothing is changing but it's not like it's subpar and you are alone with your book.
> your entire grade depends on one final
This isn't due to staff shortages, it's more of a difference in tradition/philosophy of teaching
That varies a lot between countries in EU. I live in Finland and my country has student unions, and professors are quite free to choose how they do the grading, so it's not always just one final exam per course. There are no dorms, but there is cheaper only-for-student housing. There are also really cheap state-subsidized meals in student restaurants on campus.
the real issue in american universities is that the tuition largely goes to paying for administrators. they do no teaching and largly dont' add much value to the experience. if we capped administratiors to 1 per 5 professors, that would go a ong way towards paying for tutors and services that actually do help students.
You have the causation backwards, I think. Or maybe we agree.
These administrators exist due to the influx of government money. As long as there is available money, the administration has every incentive to grow, and does. It's really very much like the government itself.
IOW - It's not that a larger administration causes costs and prices to go up - it's that more money coming in leads to a larger administration.
It's very much like the cost-plus model in the defense department as well: If I'm allowed to make more money when my costs are higher, then I will ensure that my costs continue to go up.
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