In Germany, there are many reasons to be registered as a student without attending classes
Perks of student life
Although in reality such "dead souls" are doing internships, receiving professional education, or even taking their first career steps, this does not prevent them from enjoying numerous benefits. For example, a student travel pass is one of the cheapest tickets, allowing them to use almost all types of public transport in the city or even an entire federal state for six months. It is this that takes up most of the semester fee, which on average ranges from 200 to 350 euros.
Health insurance costs a student under 30 about 80 euros. And Germans under 25 can even be included in their parents' insurance and pay nothing out of their own pocket. However, only if they earn less than 450 euros per month. In addition, students get into museums and cinemas at half price, and sometimes for free, they are given discounts in stores, reduced subscriptions to newspapers and magazines – there are enough reasons to stay longer at the university.
A double-edged sword
“After tuition fees were abolished in many states, including Baden-Württemberg, the number of freshmen in some majors increased significantly,” says Rimma Gerenstein from the public relations department of the University of Freiburg in an interview with Deutsche Welle. However, universities do not keep separate statistics on pseudo-students.
Since such individuals usually enroll in majors with unlimited places, they do not displace genuinely knowledge-hungry candidates and play no role in issues of university resource shortage. Moreover, the amount of money universities receive from the state directly depends on the number of enrolled students.
However, there are other criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of higher education institutions, such as the number of graduates and the average duration of study programs. They seriously affect the reputation and ranking of universities, so pseudo-students can do a disservice. “After all, universities are interested in students studying actively and successfully,” cites the online publication Zeit Online, quoting the press secretary of the German Rectors' Conference, Ralf Kellershohn.
Nevertheless, there is no need to fear draconian measures from universities. From a legal standpoint, the mere fact of enrollment does not equate to the necessity of attending lectures and seminars. The only obligation for students is the regular payment of semester fees. It is easy to guess that where you have to pay more than 350 euros for six months of study, the number of pseudo-students is noticeably smaller than in universities with more democratic rates.
Small restrictions are also introduced by examination regulations: in many elite universities, clear deadlines are set for passing exams. For example, the Higher Education Act of the state of Hesse prescribes inviting students who have not received any grades for two years to preventive consultations to clarify the reasons for this state of affairs and determine future goals. At the Technical University of Darmstadt, such meetings offer students various monitoring systems so that studying can be continued more meaningfully, says the university's press secretary Jörg Feuck. But if a student does not show up for such a consultation, no one can expel them.
Only after the 14th semester do sanctions begin to be applied to negligent students: 500 euros on top of the mandatory semester fee. However, before that moment, pseudo-students have a full seven years at their disposal.
Employers prefer the efficient
The duration of study at a university allows one to learn quite a lot about a potential employee: how well they can plan and manage their time, how determined, stress-resistant, and serious they are in completing assigned tasks. It is also important whether the candidate has managed to improve their foreign language skills, participate in socially significant projects, and complete an internship in their field.
“In most cases, graduates who have spent significantly more time than allowed on their studies find it much more difficult to successfully start their professional career. As a rule, such candidates are first of all excluded from the list of applicants for a vacancy,” says Jan Bolken, a representative of the Profiling Institut, a consulting firm in education and employment matters.
Even if the applicant is lucky and is invited for an interview, they will first have to answer tricky questions about the prolonged studies. The recruiter will certainly ask why that particular field was chosen, what the candidate managed to learn over such a long period, and what ultimately prevented them from getting the coveted degree.
“If a candidate suddenly decides to confess that they traveled around the world or simply temporarily extended their ability to use student benefits, the question arises of why they did not write the truth in their resume, whether this person deserves trust, and whether the company should take the risk of hiring such an employee. Most likely, the decision will be made not in their favor,” emphasizes Inga Freienstein, head of the Cologne Career Center in Cologne, in an interview with Deutsche Welle.
Of course, if the studies were prolonged for reasons beyond the candidate's control, there remains a chance to rehabilitate oneself and build a successful career. But one will have to make every effort to prove to the employer one's dedication and willingness to work tirelessly.