Cost of Studying and Living in Germany for International Students 2019-20

Since 2014, 16 states in Germany decided to make the universities completely tuition-free for undergraduate students. Both domestic and international students of undergraduate studies are not required to pay tuition fees for the universities. However, there are minimal semester fees that are needed to be paid by international students. Since 2017, Baden-Wurttemberg, one of the public universities have tuition fees of 3000 euros a year. For the second degree program, the fees are 1300 euros a year.

These low fees and free universities are one of the many reasons why a large number of international students are attracted to Germany for their higher education. There are a number of English language programs available, and the costs are extremely low compared to the English speaking destinations.

Tuition Fees:

The public universities in Germany, as we have mentioned are tuition free, however, there are semester fees to be paid, from 50 to 250 euros a semester. The private universities are not state funded, and rely on the fees paid by the students. The fees for private universities are decided by the respective universities, and therefore they change depending on the courses and universities. The fees can be as high as 20000 euros a year for private universities. Cost of Study in Germany for the Masters can go as high as 30000 euros, too. Again, a lot would depend on the course one is taking. A Humanities or a social science course would cost much lesser than the amounts we just mentioned, and a business and management, or a medicine course would be of the higher cost. The PhD in Germany are also free for at least the first four to six semesters.

Cost of Living in Germany

The low or non-existent fees are there, students still need to pay the living expenses. The cost of living will be more in the metropolitan cities like Munich and Berlin. Munich is considered the most expensive city to live in Germany, with an average cost of living going as high as 12000 euros a year. The country has an average living cost of 10200 euros a year. The biggest chunk of living expenses comes from the rent, where an average shared flat costing 280 to 340 euros a month, and student halls costing 235 to 300 euros a month for international students.

According to The German Academic Exchange Service, the average monthly costs are as given below:

• 168 euros a month for Food
• 42 euros a month for Clothes
• 94 euros a month for Transport
• 31 euros a month or Telephone, Internet and TV
• 20 euros a month Work / Study
• 61 euros a month for social life and other activities

Apart from these costs, if you are not from EU/EEA countries, there is a Student visa fee needed to be paid. Student visa in Germany costs 60 euros per application. The fund requirement for visa purpose, is 8700 euros for a year, which is somewhere around 725 euros a month for international students. Apart from these, the health insurance in Germany costs 80 euros a month.

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