That site's information about Germany is outdated. There was a €500 fee (the legal maximum) for a while after a law was passed that allowed universities to charge it. That was followed by protests and a few years later all universities have completely dropped it.
There is a marginal fee (<€300 for most universities) that is mostly used to fund the student council (e.g. services like cafés and various co-operations, like student tickets for regional public transit), but that already existed before.
The €500 tuition fee was paid on top of that and directly went to the university itself. The >50% of the regular fees that goes to the student council is also set by the council (e.g. it went up by a few euros in Cologne when the student ticket was extended to all of North-Rhine Westphalia instead of just the local public transit union -- which was decided by a direct vote of the students themselves).
Also, the public scholarship (BAföG) AFAIK didn't cover the €500 tuition fee, so some universities advertised student loans offered by publicly owned banks (which would only cover the €500 tuition fee, not the regular base fee).
Anyway, the tuition fees were rather short-lived. Except for the distance learning university of Hagen (the only distance learning university in Germany, and the only non-private distance learning higher-education institution in Germany) which charges an even lower base fee but then additionally charges for the course materials (making it slightly more expensive for full-time study), the fees are generally much lower than €500 these days.
There is a marginal fee (<€300 for most universities) that is mostly used to fund the student council (e.g. services like cafés and various co-operations, like student tickets for regional public transit), but that already existed before.
The €500 tuition fee was paid on top of that and directly went to the university itself. The >50% of the regular fees that goes to the student council is also set by the council (e.g. it went up by a few euros in Cologne when the student ticket was extended to all of North-Rhine Westphalia instead of just the local public transit union -- which was decided by a direct vote of the students themselves).
Also, the public scholarship (BAföG) AFAIK didn't cover the €500 tuition fee, so some universities advertised student loans offered by publicly owned banks (which would only cover the €500 tuition fee, not the regular base fee).
Anyway, the tuition fees were rather short-lived. Except for the distance learning university of Hagen (the only distance learning university in Germany, and the only non-private distance learning higher-education institution in Germany) which charges an even lower base fee but then additionally charges for the course materials (making it slightly more expensive for full-time study), the fees are generally much lower than €500 these days.