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While greatly reduced from their height, US military bases in Germany should explain most of that - Soldiers, their dependents, retirees, and the tens of thousands of bastards and divorcees left behind by the aforementioned who now have some form of citizenship probably account for 90% of the 6800.

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That I would agree with. Not understanding why anyone else would go out of their way to get a degree from Germany.

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by the nineteenth century nearly 9,000 Americans studied in Germany

This one's pretty simple - America didn't have the University infrastructure that Europe did - It wouldn't surprise is that 9000 was more than the total capacity at all US colleges of the time. Once closer and less expensive options began available, foreign enrollment naturally dropped.

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Agree - and the early US universities basically copied the German model. Which is why the 6,800 number today whereas there's plenty of colleges in the US makes me scratch my head.

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