Yeah, the problem kicks in when departments have tons of students who were directed to study something they weren't particularly interested in (or had no idea what it actually entails). It's not necessarily a problem for the university as such but for those who are supposed to lecture them.
What should also be kept in mind is that universities might also like to direct the flow of students to specific subjects. So it's not about getting a certain number of students but ideally a certain number of students for specific pathways who also use university services (e.g. dorms).
It's possibly also important to add that students may end up with several offers from different Universities. adding to this, there are new foreign players on the market (e.g. from EU countries) and domestic capacities of good universities in China are also rising.
I would also not underestimate that political actors know that they lack - at large - consent to do something drastic, so if they wish to go ahead and it fails they are the ones who get blamed even by those who wanted that they act in that way. While at the same time, the reward is limited.
I suspect part of the answer might be that political stakes are higher which may create 'risk averse' behaviour. Doing nothing could be perceived as less painful than doing something very wrong in a unitarian state with FPTP and de facto unicameral parliament.
The most likely outcome is increased difficulty to form a government in the Länder (in East Germany). I guess influencing politics through Bundesrat for East Germany governments might become more difficult if they are more unstable.
In other words, at the moment they already seem to have reached a peak. There are limits how much they can grow and they are not deemed worthy to coalise with. In East Germany, the voter potential is much higher but parties will be reluctant to coalise anyway.
Almost certainly 'no'. They need a coalition partner and any party who would entertain this would probably end up losing MPs (defections) and votes. Also, on the national level anything above 20% is very unlikely for AfD anyway. Both, AfD and BSW have a combined voter potential of about 25-28%.
On the elections and presumably big wins of AfD (far right) and BSW (far left) in East Germany. The consequences is most likely that it will be almost impossible to coalise and that East Germany (Thüringen and Sachsen) will be somewhat more marginalised (politically). I can't say that I'm surprised.
Makes sense if you fear that a substantial part of your voter coalition thinks a) tax increases are bad and b) increasing efficiency of public services would do the trick. I suspect their fear isn't unfounded. It comes down to expecting to pay US level taxes and getting Scandinavian-style services.