And I don’t know about Germany, but in France students can eat cheaply at Resto Us located throughout the city (that’s how it was in Paris.) Subsidized, decent meals for a fraction of the cost of what you’d pay in dorms. The school where I was at, the food was also considerably better than at the average college dorm cafeteria. There was free wine, too 
That’s in addition to significant discounts on public transportation, movies, theater, symphony, concerts of all sorts and ballet. Even that the poshest, most exclusive venues.
I could never afford to go to world-class dance as much as I did as a poor student in France.