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.
German student movement
When this time limit was introduced at the Free University of Berlin during the summer holidays of 1966 the students were not there, and so were unable to protest against it; instead, the first big sit-in of the German student movement happened when they returned after the holidays, with about 4,000 participants. The events at the Free University of Berlin are representative of the events at all universities in Germany, as the same events were quickly repeated elsewhere.