Tuition fees in Germany

» German version (with more information)

In germany, education policiy is the responsibility of the 16 federal states with not much influence of the German government. The Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) decides on th 26th of january 2005 that the German government will not have the power to strictly prevent the federal states from establishing their own individual fees.

Fees for studying "too long" were already established in some federal states in 1997. Between 1970 and 1997 no fees were demanded. The new descision implies that, now, the federal states are allowed to resolve tuition fees starting with the first term.

Please bear in mind that students in Germany have to pay for their student union and for social affairs. These contributions aren't mentioned here. I'm only talking about tuition fees.

The following table shows you the planned tuition fees and what has already been implemented. For more information (only in German) there is a link to the federal states.

Two federal states, Hesse and Saarland, already stopped tuition fees again.

Edited: 02/11/2010	Tuition fees (already passed)	Plans	Other costs²
Baden-Württemberg	A 500 € [2007]	-	40 €
Bavaria (Bayern)	A 500 € [2007]		-
Berlin	-	-	51 € + 16-36 €⁴
Brandenburg	-	-	51 €
Bremen	L+X 500 €	-	50 €
Hamburg	A 375 € [since 2008/2009; 500 &euro since 2007/2008]		50 €
Hesse (Hessen)	- [500 € only 2007/2008]		50 €
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)	-	-	%lt;=50 €
Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen)	A 500 € [2006/2007] L 600-800 €	-	75 €
North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen)	A 500 € [2006/2007]	-	-
Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz)	K+S+Z 650 €	X	-
Saarland	- [500 € only 2007/2008-2009/2010]	-	-
Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt)	L 500 €	A?	"admin. costs" X €⁶
Saxony (Sachsen)	Z 30-450 €	L	intented: 25-150 €⁵
Schleswig-Holstein	-	L?	-
Thuringia (Thüringen)	L 500 €	-	-

Comments

A Tuition fees starting with the beginning of university education.
AX Tuition fees for all students who didn't pass their A-levels in the federal state where they study. May be prohibited by the federal constitution of Germany.
S Fees for seniors (people older than 60 have to pay)
L Surcharge for students studying for more than 5-7 years (according to the field of study chosen). All terms count including even former fields of studies.
K "Studienkonten" (in fact a special version of the surcharge mentioned)
X Fees for students who aren't inhabitants of the city / region where the university is situated.
Z Tuition fees for post-graduates starting a new and different subject.

² In this column you find charges for enrolment and administratiin. I mention these costs because in the past you didn't have to pay for that.
³ At present / in the future (next 5 years). Worst case.
⁴ Costs for social affairs are higher if somebody studies for more than 5-7 years (according to the field of study chosen)
⁵ Examination fees
⁶ Optional charges for learning aids, libraries and other facilities of the university.
⁷ The conservatives will start with 500 € fees. Some federal governments are more likely to rise these fees - in my opinion.

Notice
I don't guarantee the content of this page. I check this page at regular intervals but you never know ...

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