Forchheimers revolt against university fees

So you can exchange. Before the start of the referendum against tuition fees, the head of the residents' registration office, dieter walda, had expected a slow start, but just a few hours after the registration counters opened, he had to admit: "more signatures were received than we expected for the first day."

Up to 14.30 o'clock yesterday, 157 citizens of forchheim had already expressed their "no to tuition fees in bavaria" submitted. "The first one was there at 8 o'clock sharp when we opened", reports silke decker, who collects the filled-out lists and deposits them in the armored cabinet of the city administration.

The munich initiators of the referendum, the free voters, had written to all municipalities asking for daily "water status reports, explains walda. "We will of course comply with this request and pass on the current voting figures." When on 30. The registration offices were closed on january, a quick report was made the same day and the final result was sent to the district office the next day. From there, the results of the communities were collected and sent to the state statistical office in munich.

There, walda explains, it will then be determined whether the 940,000 signatures required have been collected. If ten percent of the electorate had signed, there were two possibilities: "either a referendum is held within three months – or the state government abolishes the tuition fees on its own initiative", explains the head of the residents' registration office.

Between hope and fear

One who signed "no" to the study fees in bavaria says patrick schroter about the tuition fees. He studies economics in the first semester. His opinion: "education should be for everyone." Therefore the contributions had to be abolished. This has made studying much easier. His parents were able to afford to pay for his studies, the young man admits, but not everyone has it so good. In addition, tuition fees have been abolished in almost all federal states "so why do we still have to pay them here in bavaria?, asks patrick schroter. He is not so sure about the question of whether the petition for a referendum will go through: "there is some doubt – but hope is alive."

Andreas lang also signs the list. He is studying german and theology for the teaching profession – already in his seventh semester. "I have been paying tuition fees for a long time – almost from the beginning", emphasized the young man. It, too, is financed by the parents. "They were still allowed to study without paying fees, stressed andreas lang. He himself could not compare the study conditions then and now – but from the money taken in, one does not feel much at the universities. "Except for the fact that some tutorials are offered, nothing has improved much." If you also hear that tuition money was parked in university accounts because they didn't know what to do with it, the student argues, then you can only hope that the petition for a referendum will be successful."

Criticism of the state financial equalization

A mother also signs the list: andrea knornschild-muller. "My son felix is studying chemistry in nurnberg", she tells. She admits that it was a mistake to introduce the fee in the first place, even though she herself is a CSU member. "You don't always have to be party-conforming." It could not be that bavaria was the largest donor in the state financial equalization system, and that SPD-governed states could do without tuition fees.

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