The Less Interesting TimesDon't Panic

2012/07/17 University Sues Student for Graduating Early

This has been sitting in my to read queue for a few days now and I want to say something about it but I don’t know what. It just seems totally weird. So, when you don’t have anything to write, write about not having anything to write.

Here’s the deal: A student enrolled in a private business and economics university in Germany. By an act of sheer genius (both for planning and execution) he managed to finish 11 semesters worth of studies in just 3, completing 60 exams in 20 months. If I met the guy, I would probably shake his hand vigorously and then maybe carry him on my shoulder and parade him around the town. The university had other plans; they are demanding 3000 euros as missing fees for his studies. That is, they want him to pay up for the rest of the year even though he only needed half of it.

So… The university says the fees are for all the studies, which means they are probably charging all in advance. If not, why say that? If so, why are they only asking now and why only for the remainder of the year? The payment shouldn’t be for studies, the payment should be for access to university property (material, instruments, etc…) and the privilege of taking the tests and passing them, getting a degree. He should only pay for the time he used. The Technion charges per semester, which seems fair to me. But what if it’s not the standard.

This whole thing looks pretty weird and complicated and unintelligible. I don’t really know what to think about it. I’d like to stand on the side of the genius but I don’t know what the university rules are there or what is their standard. They say they made sure this whole thing ran by the university and it was approved.

In conclusion, I don’t know. What do you think?

Posted in Geekdom, Less Interesting News, Weird by Eran with 1 comment.