Financing an Education

One of the teachers I taught with on Monday asked me to speak about the Fulbright Scholarship: what it is, how I got it, what am I doing with it, etc. I told the class of seventh-graders that I am teaching English, studying engineering, and doing engineering research (in a few more words, of course). This gave me the opportunity to explain what engineering was; most of the students didn’t know what the German word meant either.

I told the class that not only can American students apply for Fulbright Scholarships to Austria and other countries in the world, but Austrian students can apply to teach German in the United States. A few of the girls in the class and one boy seemed very excited by this opportunity. (Actually, I may see if I can get some literature from the Fulbright Commission to share with these students.)

When one student mentioned that his parents would never have enough money to send him to the United States for such a program, I reiterated that the term “scholarship” means that you don’t pay any (or pay very little) money to participate in the program. The teacher then chimed in by telling the class that they could also get scholarships to go to Austrian universities. Not a single person in the class knew this! They assumed that if their parents could not pay for university, then they simply would not go. They would get a job instead.

I might further criticize such ignorance if it weren’t for the fact that there have recently been great changes made to the Austrian university system. Higher education used to be completely free. Now, citizens of the European Union need to pay approximately $400 per semester and non-EU citizens pay about $800 per semester. When compared with tuition fees in the United States, $400 is laughable, but the situation is anything but laughable here. In Vienna alone, thousands of students protested last year against the introduction of university fees. The protests didn’t deter the administration, but they certainly drew attention to the issue. As of the moment, it looks like the fees are here to stay, but whether or not they increase in the coming years remains to be seen.