I'm a student at a German university, and I don't pay tuition fees, but I do pay about 400€ a year in "semester fees", of which the two largest components are "student services" and a compulsory season ticket for regional transport; student union membership and some kind of insurance contribution are also included.
> of which the two largest components are "student services"
I also had to pay for student services at my (Canadian) university, for things like meal plans, supplemental health/dental/vision insurance, subsudized bus fare, etc. It cost about $300 a year, if I recall correctly. However, I was given the option of opting out. Are you not also given that option?
Those fees have no drop out, if the semester ticket had a drop out I guess nobody really wants to do that. You get to use all public transport of the region for a very low price. (Only exemption is, when a student goes abroad and can't use it anyway it the student can be exempt, usually there is also the possibility for poor students that the ticket is paid by the student body. At least we had the possibility to do that)
The other part is the Studentenwerk (Student's Works) which runs cafeterias, housing and other services which you can use for a low price or even free.
The third part is for the student body. In most states in Germany the student body is an legal public body. It is used by the student parliament den the student committee (AStA) to fund services and other stuff which is needed to represent students and their needs. Usually the semester ticket is not made between the university and the transportation company but between the student body and the company, therefore the AStA is negotiating the contract about it. (depends on the university).
We also had three permanent employees, which helped a lot.
Insurances of any kind is not included.
Full disclosure, I used to be the chair of a student committee of the student body of an German university.
> Those fees have no drop out, if the semester ticket had a drop out I guess nobody really wants to do that.
If I could drop out, I would consider buying the semester ticket in winter (when I take the bus to uni) and not in summer (when I cycle). In summer, most of my use of public transport is recreational (take the train to some swimming pool or hiking area). I could easily replace this with more cycling and occasionally buying one of DB's weekend special tickets.
Depends on the city. I studied in Bremen and many students asked for the semester ticket first. Even though Bremen isn't that bad for cycling. But it has a well build tram network.
As the transportation tickets are normally negotiated between the student body and the transportation provider it whats mandatory and whats not wholly depends on the negotiation skills and priorities of the student union body of the institution you're at.
With no opt outs the tickets simply get cheaper. My former institution allowed opt-out and before had complicated mixed system of buying a base tickets which allow travel on weekends only and buying monthly tickets for a little more than 30 EUR/month. After hanging a vote of all students this changed to a flat fee per semester.
Many are, especially higher level courses (ie, above the Bachelor level), but not nearly all of them.
Some lecturers try to hold their lectures in English even though they speak it very poorly.
Pretty much all lecturers will happily take English questions and answer them in English.
And all German comp sci students speak English.
For many courses which are held in German the materials are still in (some kind of) English.
You can usually get by very, very well by skipping the classes entirely and learning from the provided materials only. In fact, that's what a large number of German students are doing too.
No, it depends on the university. The predominant language of teaching in undergraduate courses in Germany is still German. However, the amount of course offerings in English language is increasing. The most common model now should be that a few classes each semester are being offered in English, which are often being taught by visiting professors or guest lecturers.
As the other repliers already said, the amount of English classes is limited, though you should be able to get your Bachelor without having to take German courses. That, of course, will be a bit harder to find the right lectures etc
400€ per year or per semester? Where?
I am at the Institute of Technology in Berlin and I payed 290.37€ this semester, which includes 179.40€ for public transport.
