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.
New states of Germany
Irreligion is predominant in the eastern part of Germany, which is considered to be the least religious region in the world. An exception is former West Berlin, which had a Christian plurality in 2016 (44.4% Christian and 43.5% unaffiliated). It also has a higher share of Muslims, at 8.5%, compared to former East Berlin with only 1.5% self-declared Muslims as of 2016. On the other hand, Christianity is the dominant religion of Western Germany, excluding Hamburg, which has a non-religious plurality. 
On 26 April 2009, a referendum () was held on whether Berlin pupils should be allowed to choose between the ethics class, a compulsory class introduced in all Berlin schools in 2006, and a religion class. The SPD, the Left Party and Greens supported the "Pro Ethics" camp for a "No" vote, stressing that the ethics class should remain compulsory, and pupils could voluntarily take an extra religion class alongside it if they so chose; the CDU and FDP supported the "Pro Reli" camp for a "Yes" vote, wanting to give pupils a free choice. In East Berlin, an overwhelming majority of 74.62% voted against the introduction of religious education. In West Berlin, only 41.41% voted "No". In total, 51.5% voted "No" and 48.4% voted "Yes".