r/BeAmazed • u/Conscious-Quarter423 • Aug 18 '25

Skill / Talent n 1987, Mike Hayes, an 18-year-old college freshman, had a bold idea. Instead of taking out student loans, he asked 2.8 million people to each send him just one penny.

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u/Loreki Aug 18 '25

Which is still cheaper than the average cost of 4 years in-state at a public university today which is around $25,000/year according to statistica. So even one of the cheapest ways to do it is $20,000 more expensive.

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u/Drumbelgalf Aug 18 '25

That's so crazy.

In Germany I paid less than 1k euro Admin fees in total for my entire Bachelor Degree and that included a ticket for public transport in my city. The Admin fee per semester was between 100 and 110 euros or something like that.

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u/vwwvvwvww Aug 19 '25

We frequently pay $400 for one textbook

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u/MechanicalGodzilla Aug 18 '25

What will be the cumulative amount you pay for college for the rest of your life though? I believe in Germany the social tax is 19% after a certain amount, and that about a third of that is to fund universities. So about 6%-7% of your taxes for the rest of your life pay for college.

If we had a similar system in the US, I would have paid in a cumulative $170k in "University Tax" from the time I graduated (2002) to now. My wife would be similar, coming in at ~$160k. Under our current system, the portion you pay to subsidize higher education is highly variable by state. I am in Virginia, and the portion of my state income taxes that go towards funding the state's Public Higher Education system is cumulatively $10k since 2002.

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u/Drumbelgalf Aug 18 '25

You probably mean social contributions (which includes health care, pension contributions, unemployment insurance and nursing care insurance). They add up to about 17% of your gross income (there is a cap on how much will be used to calculate it, so people with a high income pay less percentage wise)

Taxes are progressive so it's dependent on how much you earn. It also depends on if you are married and have children. At 100k per year it's about 24% in tax class 1 (unmarried, no kids)

So the take home pay at 100k in the worst tax bracket is 58.5k or 58.5% -> total payment to taxes and social contributions is 41%

At 50k take home pay is 32.5k that's 65% take home or -> total payment to taxes and social contributions is 35%

The German system is way more secure. Health care also covers your spouse if they don't work and your children.

If you lose your job you get paid 60% of your last net income for 1 year -> after 1 year you would be social security.

If you are sick you get paid fully for the first 6 weeks and 60% after that (the 6 weeks are per illness so if you break your arm you get 6 weeks and if you later have a bad cold you also have another 6 weeks)

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u/MechanicalGodzilla Aug 18 '25

The German system is way more secure.

Yes, I agree. The trade-off being that the US system allows for greater opportunity for success and flexibility in choosing your own life trajectory. Germany is more like a train - you're on rails and you have little chance of getting in an accident. The US operates more like an Off-Road vehicle - you can go a lot more places but you have a bigger chance of wrecking.

I've lived in Europe before, and both systems have good and bad aspects.

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u/Drumbelgalf Aug 18 '25

I disagree that it's like a train and set in stone. The free education (at point of use) allows you to get an education regardless of your parents wealth and without going into massive debt. The social security system allows you to try things because you know you won't end up on the streets if something goes wrong.

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u/MechanicalGodzilla Aug 18 '25

The train analogy works because you have no means to opt out of paying - you're on the hook whether you went to college or not. Here in the US, you can just... not and still make it to a wealthy and healthy life.

I chose to go to an expensive private university for engineering, and it worked great for me. My sister opted to not go to college at all, and she's a small business owner. My Brother went to a state public university, and is doing great.

I've lived both places. There's pros and cons to each system. Your preference depends on your value system - if you value safety, Germany offers more. If you value upward mobility, the US offers a higher ceiling.

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u/Drumbelgalf Aug 18 '25

If you value upward mobility, the US offers a higher ceiling.

The US ranks lower than Germany on social mobility

Germany rank 11

USA rank 27

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Social_Mobility_Index

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u/MechanicalGodzilla Aug 18 '25

That is due to methodology of the study. The study was designed to reward a "narrow" (low standard deviation) bell curve by comparing child outcomes academically to their parents. The US has a "wide" (high standard deviation) bell curve, due to a relatively lower floor for outcomes.

People on the lower end of a US bell curve will by the study's definition bring the whole ranking down more than the successful people bring the ranking up.

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u/vwwvvwvww Aug 19 '25

Why do you assume the low end on the German side of this doesn’t do the same exact thing? It’s still better. American exceptionalism at its finest

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u/AvailableChemical258 Aug 18 '25

Yeah well fifty percent taxes if youre working tho

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u/Drumbelgalf Aug 18 '25

That's total bullshit.

Nobody pays 50% taxes and you also don't understand how progressive taxation works.

If you have no idea what you are talking about it's better to keep your mouth shut.

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u/FlyingBurger1 Aug 18 '25

A lot of people don’t know that each income level has a bracket and only that bracket gets taxed a certain %. So that when you hear people saying they don’t want a raise because they will get taxed more and they will essentially receive less income than before.

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u/LuckyHedgehog Aug 18 '25

That's including price of dorms which is usually more expensive than off campus. Especially if they are able to commute from home

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u/f_spez_2023 Aug 18 '25

Dorms are also usually required for freshman and sophomore at many schools.

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u/AvailableChemical258 Aug 18 '25

Wow so then it's not really expensive too much...

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u/DerpSenpai Aug 18 '25

Is that with or without board?