ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the highly controversial debates about tuition fees in German higher education. With higher education expansion during the 1960s and early 1970s, the federal government had increasingly supported the states in the funding of their higher education institutions. The basic budget of German higher education institutions consists of funds provided by the respective state ministry. The German controversies about the issue of tuition fees can be based on two contrasting arguments which are not exclusively German but can be found globally among proponents and opponents of tuition fees. The main argument of the proponents of fees is a neo-liberal and economic one. The main argument of the opponents of fees is based on social justice and equity issues. Apart from the issue of tuition fees, there has been a student contribution every semester since the late 1960s which has to be paid upon first enrolment and at re-enrolment every semester.
