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Student loan for EU students

Last activity 20 November 2020 by thaaismunizz

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thaaismunizz

Hello, everyone. My name is Thais, I'm Brazilian and I'm currently waiting for my Portuguese citizenship to be approved.
I would like to do my bachelor in History abroad, but unfortunately I can't count with my parent's financial support, only myself.
My dream country was England, but since brexit happened, I don't see as a possibility in terms of tuition and work permit. Three countries I thought about was Germany, Sweden and Denmark, for being able to work full-time if needed and because is low or 0 tuition fee.
Which one would be the best option in terms of student loan, finding a job, conciliate work and studies?
My main worry is everything related to finances.
Thank you.

beppi

I cannot compare the three countries you mentioned, but I can tell you about Germany:
- As an EU citizen, you can freely live, work and study here.
- To enter university, you must fulfill the immatriculation requirements - ask about them at the school of your choice.
- Although you are right about no tuition fee in general, some courses (incl. most held in English or other languages) do cost. Furthermore, there is an administrative fee of €70-300/semester, plus you need to pay health insurance (€75/month subsidized rate for students) and your living expenses (€800/month at the poverty line). You cannot get a German study loan (BAFöG) and other subsidies only if you are a top student.
- You cannot expect to, besides full time studies, work enough to earn your entire living expenses. Thus you need to come with sufficient savings.
- And, last not least, everything stands or falls with your German language abilities. University entrance usually requires a C1 certificate (and many side jobs also need it). Where are you currently?

TominStuttgart

I would add to Beppi’s comments to say that to do a program in German one usually needs a C1 level. If one is doing a program in English, or possibly another language, then they should know at least rudimentary German to get along but there will not be a specific German requirement as far as I know. The thing is that while some English taught programs exist, they are by far the minority. Some foreigners assume that every program is also offer in English. This is not true. One has to look to see if such a thing is available.

And if one does do an English taught program, they should know that unless they learn German to a fluent level parallel to their studies, then in most fields they will have little to no chance at getting a job afterwards in Germany. Other than niche jobs is some areas like high tech, probably 97% of professional jobs will require speaking very good German. I’ve heard some real anger from people who felt somehow mislead after doing a degree in English only to find that they couldn’t get a job because their lack of the local language. English is valuable here as a second language in addition to German – not as an alternative.

And an EU student is almost always going to be able to study tuition free in public universities, private ones are not cheap. And while a EU person can legally both study and work full-time, on a practical level this is impossible. Who has the time and academic ability to study and work more than say half-time? It is not realistic to think one can study full time and work and earn enough to live. This reality is why to get a study visa, non-EU students have to show over 10,000 euros/year in a blocked bank account to pay for living expenses – even if they might work part-time.

thaaismunizz

Thank you for your message, both of you.
Yes, I have intention to have a blocked account, working part-time would be to complement my income during my studies.

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