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.
Free education
Free education is education funded through taxation or charitable organizations rather than tuition funding. Many models of free higher education have been proposed. Primary school and other comprehensive or compulsory education is free in many countries, for example, and all education is mostly free (often not including books (from primary) and a number of administrative and sundry fees in university) including post-graduate studies in the Nordic countries. The Article 13 of International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ensures the right to free education at primary education and progressive introduction of it at secondary and higher education as the right to education.