The capital's chief financier is concerned that, "having left educational institutions, they continue to live fully or partially at the expense of the state" - receiving housing supplements, benefits and other privileges only available to students. In the politician's opinion, every student who drops out burdens Berlin's already strained budget to an extent equal to the cost of a full graduate.
Indeed, "voluntary dropouts" try in every way to retain cheap health insurance, the right to discounted public transport, tax breaks, etc. According to the regional office of the Employment Agency, only in May 124,000 recipients of unemployment benefit (ALG II) were registered there, among them many who quit university. Moreover, over the past 10 years their number has been steadily growing. The situation is not unique to Berlin - the same is happening across the country. If in 2002, 25% of students dropped out of the country's universities, then in 2004 it was already 27%.
In Berlin itself, the figures are much worse. For example, according to 2003 data, the full course of study was completed: at the Free University, 52% of those who enrolled there in the corresponding year, at Humboldt University - barely half, and at the Technical University - only 44% in total. There are actually two reasons why students leave their alma mater ahead of time, and both are well known. The first and most common is disappointment in the future profession: after several semesters, a young person "suddenly" comes to the conclusion that the specialty he has chosen does not appeal to him. The second reason, less common, is financial: those who are forced to earn money for living on their own simply have no time left for studies.
Needless to say, the reasons are serious. But if in the first case one can discuss the quality and, accordingly, the effectiveness of countless career guidance programs for school and gymnasium graduates, then in the second, one involuntarily recalls the recent student unrest caused by the impending introduction of tuition fees. It seems that it will only add to those who are forced to drop out not of their own free will. After all, if a present-day Berlin sophomore has to think about paying for housing, food, clothing and footwear, the semester fee to the student society AStA, and modest everyday pleasures, such as drinking beer at a disco, then for him, if he became a student, say, in his fourth year, all these problems will be joined by a headache over the need to find up to €500 per semester to pay for the classes themselves. It is, of course, not out of the question that his head will start hurting earlier. But Senator Sarrazin urges his colleagues to vote for the introduction of tuition fees at the capital's universities no earlier than 2007.