Financing Your Studies

This page contains information about how much studying in Germany costs, and how to finance your studies.

Needs

The total cost to study at university in Germany depends on many factors, the most significant of which are:

Housing. This is likely the biggest expense for a student. How much you spend not only depends on what kind of housing you live in (a flat to yourself is more expensive than living in a shared flat, for example), but where you live. There is an enormous difference in rents between a major city and a small town in eastern Germany. The most expensive cities in Germany include Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Berlin, while the cheapest cities are Chemnitz, Cottbus, Halle, Kaiserlautern, and Dortmund.
Tuition. Students at public universities only pay a few hundred Euros a semster in fees, while students at private universities can spend several tens of thousands of Euros a year.
Lifestyle. This is a bit difficult to quantify, but how often you go to a restaurant (vs cooking your own food at home), where you go on holiday, whether you have any expensive hobbies, and how often you return home (and how far/expensive that flight is) makes a significant difference in your monthly expenses.
Larger one-time expenses, such as a new computer, or an expensive flight, can make a significant dent in your finances. Most averages exclude large one-off expenses.

On average, students (at public universities) spend around 800-1,000 € per month in total. The official requirements for a student residence permit (see below) are 11,208 € per year as of January 1st, 2023. German citizens whose parents are unable to support them financially can get up to 931 € a month in state aid (BAföG).

Numbeo allows you to compare the cost of living in different cities in Germany to your home country, and the finances and taxes wiki page goes into more details on average spending for students.

Legal and visa aspects

As detailed in the guide to studying in Germany, non-EU students must have sufficient financial means in order to get a residence permit to study in Germany (colloquially known as a “student visa”). Foreign students must therefore show that they have 11,208 euro. Specifically, the immigration authorities accept three kinds of proofs: Savings, financial guarantees, and scholarships.

Savings

In order to make sure that the savings will actually be used to finance your studies (and wasn’t just a temporary blip in your bank balance), the immigration authorities usually require that you deposit the money into a special kind of German bank account, known as a “blocked account” (Sperrkonto) from which you can only withdraw 1/12 of the total sum per month. Only a few banks offer a Sperrkonto: Deutsche Bank, Fintiba and X-Patrio.

Guarantees

If you don’t have the required savings (see above), then someone else can guarantee that they will support you financially. In most cases, this is your parents, who sign a letter to that effect, and have to show that they have enough income and/or savings to make good on their pledge. Other people can also offer guarantees (see §66-68 of the Aufenthaltsgesetz), but unless they are German permanent residents (against whom the German state could enforce collection, if necessary), the immigration authorities may not accept their guarantee. Speak to the embassy in case you’re unsure.

The term for these guarantees is Verpflichtungserklärung. Somebody in Germany vouches to cover each and all costs you might cause during your stay, they are financially responsible for you and you get to come to Germany without proof of finances.

Many foreigners read about that and think this a good and easy way to get around the visa requirements. They think they will come and get a job and cover everything themselves and only have the Bürgschaft (guarantee) written on paper - after all, they are good and honest people, and have no intention of being a burden to the people vouching for them. From a foreigner’s perspective that is a sweet deal with few consequences for anyone, since most of the people hoping for someone willing to sign such a document on their behalf are truly honest hardworking people.

But for the person offering the guarantee by signing such a document, it is a huge fucking deal. One cannot stress enough how much of a risk this is. For the guarantor (Bürge) it is a much safer bet to just borrow you the 11k you need for a visa and hope that you will pay it back. If you don’t, then they lost only 11k. If one can not afford to gift someone 11k in the worst case scenario, one can not afford the worst case scenario of a Bürgschaft by a long shot. We are speaking about total private bankruptcy here. Seriously. One vouches for each and every cost you might cause during your stay in Germany. That means bills and legal fees, accidents you might cause and for which you didn’t take insurance. Everything you misunderstood and fucked up, the Bürge has to pay for. If you overstay your visa and get kicked out/deported the Bürge has to pay for the costs of that too. It can be a bottomless pit in the worst case.

In the best case you are able to score a job and pay for everything yourself. But in the best case you would also pay back 11k that were loaned to you. So again, just giving you the 11k is a much safer option.

Vouching for other people in Germany is not uncommon, parents do it for their kids all the time, for example to help them getting their first apartment. But nobody in their right mind would even consider to be a Bürge for anyone that is not close family.

You can imagine how hard it would be to find someone in Germany willing to lend you 11k Euro which you might or might not pay back. Finding someone to vouch for you is much much harder than that.

(credit to /u/mkugelfisch, adapted from their explanation in this thread)

Scholarships and grants

Each year, the DAAD hands out a limited number of scholarships to foreign students who have graduated from a university in their home country, have done exceptionally well in their field, and who would like to continue their education in Germany. The scholarship is usually for either doing a Master’s or a Doctorate (PhD) degree course. For more info and information on other scholarships/grants available to foreign students see the DAAD website on scholarships.

There are very few other university scholarships and grants in Germany, mostly because the negligible tuition fees make them unnecessary. Your home country may have scholarships or grants which could be used for studies in Germany. If the money you receive adds up to the required minimum of 11,208 € a year, then it’s sufficient to get a residence permit.

Working

If you’re a non-EU student on a student residence permit (“student visa”), then you may only work for 120 days per year (or 240 half-days per year) next to your studies. Excluded from this limit are student jobs on-campus, for example as a Hilfskraft.

A very good overview of all the regulations and some useful hints can be found in this document published by the University of Mainz.

German university degree courses are full-time, so there is comparatively little time to work. Additionally, given how much independent self-study most German degrees require, you should not be too optimistic in how much you can work (and therefore earn). While everyone’s financial needs and earning potential is different, broadly speaking, you should not expect to cover more than about half of your total expenses (assuming you’re studying at a public university) through working - the other half will have to come from somewhere else (savings, contributions from family, etc).

Students in Germany do many kinds of work, including bartending and waitressing, marketing, tutoring, office support, couriers and delivery work, salesperson, tour guides, and more. However, keep in mind that, unless you speak fluent German, you won’t be able to work in most “classical” student jobs. Here are some suggestions for student jobs for non-German speakers.

Earning example

Students are allowed to work 240 days per calendar year for up to 4 hours/120 days for more than 4 hours. 240 days x 4 hours x 12 euro minimum wage = 11,520 euro gross income per year = 9,384 net income per year after taxes and social security contributions = 782 net income per month. Your social security contributions also give you public health insurance – if you have no job then you have to pay about 110 euro per month for that.

Freelance visa

The student visa does not allow you to freelance. It is possible to apply for an exception at the immigration authority (Ausländerbehörde), see section 21 (6) Residence Act. If your specific freelancing activity does not allow you to easily keep track on the number of hours you freelance then the exception will likely not be granted.

Purpose of the work limits

Germany has certain requirements that immigrants have to fulfill in order to get a work visa or a freelance visa. The student visa allows immigrants to work part-time with no further requirements regarding the work they do. The number of work hours is limited in order to prevent that people who want to work/freelance in Germany but do not meet the requirements for a work/freelancer visa get the student visa as a backdoor to work/freelance in Germany full-time anyway. Tracking how many hours you work as an employee is easy since the employer has to document it. Tracking how many hours you work as a freelancer is much harder and often impossible depending on the type of freelance activity.

You can get rid of the restrictions of the student visa by getting a work or freelance visa instead. You can then work or freelance as many hours as you want as well as study at a university (which every visa allows you to do, not just the student visa).