Today an excellent article reminded me that Germany is offering free college tuition to qualified international students. The article, on the BBC News website, described the program here: US Students get a uni degree for free in Germany. My life plans just changed.
My wife's family moved to the US from Greece the year before she was born. Her older sister was born in Greece. My father in law was thirty-seven at the time. Thirty-seven! Several friends, cousins, and even an older brother had already emigrated to the U.S. by then. He saw his chance and bravely cut his tickets. He and his wife packed their scant possessions, their four-year old girl, and a few bucks they'd collected, and they got on a boat to the United States. Talk about adventure. Talk about courage. Talk about a commitment to a better life for a family.
I admire that move, and I have a strong desire to take a similar step, but in the opposite direction. My teenagers have already been to Germany, Greece and Australia. They speak Greek decently, and have smatterings of a third (sadly not German). They have seen that the world is a big, amazing place with more opportunity than most of their peers imagine.
As they advance in their education, my kids are often asked to consider where they will go for college. I ascribe to the James Altucher idea that college is generally a waste of time and money. It makes no sense to blow four years of time to get buried in debt just to graduate to the bottom of a career salt mine, forced to take work you don't love, in order to pay off the debt. It sounds dumb that way doesn't it? That's because it is dumb. "College is for suckers" is my mantra (with exceptions). If college costs a fortune and the value of the education is dubious, then it makes no sense. On the other hand, getting an engineering or chemistry degree that will be recognized throughout the world, for no tuition cost, changes the game.
My wife and I like western Europe. Its culture has developed over more than a thousand years, lending to a social climate that is both more welcoming and more private at the same time. Its style, sensibility, and connection to the world at large make it a more interesting and dynamic place than say, southwest Ohio. Language is not a barrier. Most Europeans speak English well. We can always find a few Greeks for help, and Maria and I have transferable skills.
U.S. universities are raising fees and costs at rates far greater than incomes are rising. The inverse proportion of annual room, board and tuition costs compared to post-graduation income has reached all time highs. The gulf between what a family spends on education and what a graduate might earn is terrifying. Yet Americans, like lemmings, continue their unthinking march to the college-at-any-price beat.
But we don't have to go over the cliff. I think we can send our daughter to Germany for her first year in university. I see my wife or me joining her for the first month to six weeks, and then returning to the states after she settles in. When her academic year ends, she can extend her European experience by living with extended family in Germany or Greece, working a job, or she can come back to the states. Knowing my girl, she will opt for a little more Euro-time.
If she decides that it will be to her benefit, and we convince her brother to do the same, and the program still exists, then we will send our son to Germany too. We will also rent out our home here and relocate there for the next few years. Maybe we will return to the States. Maybe we will live out the rest of our lives as ex-pat Americans in Europe. Maybe we'll move to a warmer climate in Spain or Costa Rica. If nothing else, we will enjoy the German lifestyle for a couple of years. That's the plan mein freunde.
Eins, zwei, g'suffa.
