Education in Germany
Public universities in Germany are funded by the federal states and do not charge tuition fees. However, all enrolled students do have to pay a semester fee ("Semesterbeitrag"). This fee consists of an administrative fee for the university (only in some of the states), a fee for "Studentenwerk", which is a statutory student affairs organization, a fee for the university's AStA ("Allgemeiner Studentenausschuss", students' government) and "Studentenschaft" (students' union), at many universities a fee for public transportation, and possibly more fees as decided by the university's students' parliament (e.g., for a cooperation with a local theater granting free entry for students). Summed up, the semester fee usually ranges between €150 and €350.
Academic dress
After the German student movement, following the years of 1967 all West German universities dropped their academic dress because they were identified with right-winged conservatism and reactionism by the mostly socialist influenced students at that time: The famous slogan "Unter den Talaren – Muff von 1000 Jahren" ("beneath the gowns the fug of 1000 years") refers not only to the old traditions of the Middle Ages, but also to the Nazi regime and their self-declared "empire of 1000 years". In East Germany, which was a communist one-party state, "Talare" were abolished by law at the same time. After East Germany began to dissolve in 1989, several universities, particularly University of Rostock, University of Greifswald, University of Jena, and University of Halle-Wittenberg, resurrected lost traditions including the "Talar" for officials. Some traditional universities in West German states have since followed, such as University of Heidelberg.