How US students get a university degree for free in Germany

While the expense of school training in the US has come to record highs, Germany has surrendered educational cost expenses through and through for German and global understudies alike. An expanding number of Americans are taking point of interest and sparing countless dollars to get their degrees.

In a kitchen in rural South Carolina one night, Hunter Bliss told his mother he wanted to apply to university in Germany. Amy Hall chuckled, dismissed it, and told him he could go if he got in.

"When he got accepted I burst into tears," says Amy, a single mother. "I was happy but also scared to let him go that far away from home."

Across the US parents are preparing for their children to leave the nest this summer, but not many send them 4,800 miles (7,700km) away - or to a continent that no family member has ever set foot in.

Yet the appeal of a good education, and one that doesn't cost anything, was hard for Hunter and Amy to ignore.

"For him to stay here in the US was going to be very costly," says Amy. "We would have had to get federal loans and student loans because he has a very fit mind and great goals."

More than 4,600 US understudies are completely enlisted at Germany colleges, an increment of 20% more than three years. In the meantime, the aggregate understudy obligation in the US has come to $1.3 trillion (£850 billion). 

Every semester, Hunter pays an expense of €111 ($120) to the Technical University of Munich (TUM), a standout amongst the most very respected colleges in Europe, to get his degree in material science. 

Included in that expense is an open transportation ticket that empowers Hunter to travel openly around Munich. 

Wellbeing protection for understudies in Germany is €80 ($87) a month, a great deal not exactly what Amy would have needed to pay in the US to add him to her arrangement. 

"The health awareness gives her genuine feelings of serenity," says Hunter. "Sparing cash obviously is incredible for her on the grounds that she can really bear the cost of this with no advances." 

To cover rent, compulsory wellbeing protection and different costs, Hunter's mom sends him between $6,000-7,000 every year. 

At his closest school back home, the University of South Carolina, that sum would not have secured the educational cost charges. Indeed, even with grants, that would have totalled about $10,000 a year. Lodging, books and everyday costs would make that number much higher. 

The basic maths made Hunter's occupation of persuading his mom simple. 

"You need to pay for my school, mother - would you like to pay this much or this much?"

The financial advantages of studying in Germany have not been lost on other US students. Katherine Burlingame decided to get her Master's degree at a university in the East German town of Cottbus.

A graduate of Pennsylvania State University, Katherine spent less than €500 ($570) a month in Cottbus, which included housing, transportation and healthcare. On top of that she received a monthly scholarship by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Council) of €750 ($815) which more than covered her costs.

"When I discovered that simply like Germans I'm examining for nothing, it was kind of brain blowing," Katherine says. 

"I understood how simple the confirmation procedure was and how there was no educational cost expense. This was a wow minute for me." 

In the 2014-2015 scholastic year, private US colleges charged understudies overall more than $31,000 for educational cost and charges, with numerous schools charging great over $50,000. As indicated by the Chronicle of Higher Education, Sarah Lawrence University is most lavish at $65,480. 

State funded colleges requested in-state inhabitants to pay more than $9,000 and out-of-state understudies paid very nearly $23,000, as indicated by College Board. 

In Germany, educational cost charges of €500-1000 were quickly founded a decade ago, however Lower Saxony turned into the last state to eliminate them again in 2014. 

Understudies pay a charge to the college every semester to backing the understudy union and different exercises. This supposed 'semester expense' once in a while surpasses €150 and as a rule incorporates open transportation tick