Past fees for international students

Since winter semester 2017/18, international students who were not from a country within the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA) had to pay tuition fees (1,500 euros per semester) for their degree studies in a bachelor's, consecutive master's or state examination programme. The usual other semester fees also applied.

The following persons did not have to pay tuition fees:

• Students from EU and EEA countries.
• International students with a qualification for university entrance acquired in Germany ("Bildungsinländer" as per § 58 Landeshochschulgesetz LHG (state law on higher education)). This qualification may be either:
  1. Allgemeine Hochschulreife (general higher education entrance qualification)
  2. Fachgebundene Hochschulreife (subject-specific higher education entrance qualification)
  3. Fachhochschulreife (qualification for study at a university of applied sciences)
  4. School qualification and a "Deltaprüfung" (test of aptitude for studying) (§ 58 para. 2 no. 4 LHG) if the corresponding subject-specific higher education entrance qualification or qualification for study at a university of applied sciences was obtained in Germany
  5. Aufstiegsfortbildungsprüfung (recognized career advancement exam) (§ 58 para. 2 no. 5 LHG) if completed in Germany
  6. Professional qualification and aptitude test (§ 58 para. 2 no. 6 LHG) if professional training and experience were completed in Germany
  7. Other previous education recognized by the Ministry of Education (§ 58 para. 2 no. 12 LHG)
  Higher education entrance qualifications earned in other German states are valid in Baden-Württemberg, as long as they are equivalent.

If the study and examination regulations allowed or required students to study simultaneously at more than one university, they only had to pay tuition fees at that university where the main focus of the study programme was.

If, after beginning their studies, students got into a financial emergency through no fault of their own and could not pay the fees as a result, the university may defered the payment entirely or partly, or entirely or partly exempted the students from paying the fees (§ 7 Landeshochschulgebührengesetz LHGebG (state law on higher education fees)).

Exceptions as per § 5 para. 1 state law on higher education fees (LHGebG)

The following exceptions from tuition fees applied to students from non-EU/EEA countries, who, for example, had a permanent residence permit for the EU or had good legal prospects for staying in Germany. The following persons did not have to pay tuition fees:

1. Spouses, life partners and children of a citizen of a country in the European Union or the European Economic Area who are entitled to freedom of movement under the conditions of § 3 para. 1 and 4 of the Freedom of Movement Act/EU or who are not entitled to these rights as children solely because they are 21 years of age or older and do not receive maintenance payments from their parents or their spouses or life partners.
2. Foreign nationals who have a settlement permit ("Niederlassungserlaubnis") or a permanent EU residence permit ("Erlaubnis zum Daueraufenthalt") as per the Residence Act (AufenthG).
3. Foreign nationals who have their habitual residence in Germany and who are recognized outside the German territory as refugees within the meaning of the Convention on the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951 (BGBl. II 1953 p. 559, 560) and who are entitled to permanently stay in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany.
4. Displaced foreigners within the meaning of the "Gesetz über die Rechtsstellung heimatloser Ausländer in Deutschland - HAusIG" (law on the legal status of displaced foreigners in Germany) in the revised version (BGBl. III, Section 243-1, last amended on 30 July 2004 (BGBl. I p. 1950, 2000).
5. Foreign nationals who have their permanent residence in Germany and hold a residence permit as per §§ 22, 23 para. 1, 2 or 4, §§ 23a, 25 para. 1 or 2, §§ 25a, 25b, 28, 37, 38 para. 1 sentence 1 no. 2 or § 104a AufenthG (Residence Act); or are the spouse, life partner or child of a foreign national with a settlement permit ("Niederlassungserlaubnis") and have a residence permit ("Aufenthaltserlaubnis") pursuant to §§ 30 or 32 [33] to 34 AufenthG.
   5a. in the period from 24.02.2022 to 25.02.2025: foreign nationals who have their permanent residence in Germany and hold a residence permit ("Aufenthaltserlaubnis") pursuant to § 24 AufenthG (Residence Act).
6. Foreign nationals who have their permanent residence in Germany and who have a residence permit pursuant to § 25 para. 3 or 4 sentence 2 or para. 5 or § 31 AufenthG (Residence Act); or are the spouse, life partner or child of a foreigner with a residence permit and have a residence permit pursuant to §§ 30, 32 [33] to 34 and 36a AufenthG and have been living in Germany for at least 15 months without interruption on a legal, permitted or tolerated basis.
7. Tolerated foreign nationals (§ 60a AufenthG (Residence Act)) who have their permanent residence in Germany and have been living in Germany for at least 15 months without interruption on a legal, permitted or tolerated basis; § 18a para. 1 no. 7 AufenthG applies accordingly.
8. Foreign nationals who have both lived and worked legally in Germany for a total of at least five years.
9. Foreign nationals who have at least one parent who both lived and worked legally in Germany at least three of the last six years before the start of their child's studies.
10. Foreign nationals who have completed a bachelor's and a master's programme or a state examination or "Diplom" study programme in Germany; § 8 LHGebG (state law on higher education fees) shall remain unaffected, that means students have to pay the tuition fee for second degree studies.

If a country leaves the EU or EEA, then citizens from this country would generally had to pay tuition as "international students". If, however, at the time the secession took effect, students had been enrolled at least five semesters in a study programme at a university in Baden-Württemberg, then they remain exempted from paying tuition fees (§ 5 para. 2 LHGebG).

Impacts of Brexit:
Students from the UK with residence in Germany who had taken up their studies by 31.12.2020 (end of transition period) did not have to pay tuition fees as per § 3 para. 1 LHGebG. The five-semester provision mentioned under "If a country leaves the EU..." did not apply in this case.

Special provisions for Swiss citizens: Swiss citizens as well as spouses, life partners or children of Swiss citizens who could prove that they were working* in Germany were not required to pay tuition fees for non-EU students. The exemption was granted under the "Freizügigkeitsabkommen EG/Schweiz", effective 1 June 2002 (§ 6 and 9 para. 2 attachment I).

*Note: Your income from self-employment or employment had to be sufficient for your living expenses. The average monthly minimum income before tax that you had to earn in the past and up to the end can be found in this overview:

716.40 euros (10/2014-09/2016)
778.80 euros (10/2016-09/2019)
892.80 euros (10/2019-09/2020)
902.40 euros (10/2020-09/2022)
974.40 euros (since 10/2022)

Source: BAföG VwV 11.3.5 in connection with § 13 para. 1 no. 2 and § 23 no. 2 BAföG.

Exemptions as per § 6 Landeshochschulgebührengesetz LHGebG (state law on higher education fees)

a) The following students were exempt from paying tuition fees:

• Students who are enrolled in line with a state, national or international agreement exempting them from having to pay tuition.
• Students from an international partner university enrolled in a tuition-free (double) degree programme as part of a reciprocal agreement.
• Visiting students from an international partner university who will not be earning a degree, but take part in a reciprocal exchange programme (e.g. Erasmus) for up to two semesters (exchange studies). By contrast, free movers (visiting students not participating in an exchange programme) are required to pay tuition fees as international students.
• Students of the Thurgau University of Teacher Education (PHTG) who are enrolled at the University of Konstanz in teacher education programmes (secondary level I or II) or in the cooperation master's programme "Early Childhood".

b) Upon application (has to be submitted before the start of the lecture period), the following students may be exempted from tuition fees:

• Students who take a leave of absence, as long as they submit their request before the lecture period.
• Student who are required by the study programme's examination regulations to complete an internship semester.
• Students with a significant study-limiting disability as per § 2 volume nine of the German social code, SGB IX.
• Asylum-seeking students as per § 55 para. 1 Asylgesetz (German asylum law) who are citizens of a country with a recognition rate listed as 50 percent or higher at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) on the basis of information provided by the Federal Ministry of the Interior on 1 July of a year for the following winter semester and on 1 January of a year for the following summer semester. Currently, these countries are Eritrea, Syria, Somalia and Afghanistan (as of 1 January 2023).

c) Exemption for particularly gifted international students:

The University of Konstanz granted exemptions to a limited number of particularly gifted international degree-seeking students, in accordance with the "Begabtenbefreiungssatzung" (statutes governing the exemption of gifted students). Eligible students had to be liable to pay tuition fees (§ 3 Landeshochschulgebührengesetz LHGebG (state law on higher education fees)) and did not be exempt either by law (§ 5 LHGebG) or by some other provision (§ 6 paras. 1-3 and paras. 6-7 LHGebG).

The selection process took place once a year during the summer semester. The departments may nominated students for exemption whom they deemed particularly gifted and who were typically have completed a minimum of 18 ECTS credits per semester at the University of Konstanz. The students themselves were not required to submit a separate application. After the decision had been made, all students granted an exemption were be notified in writing. The exemption came into effect retroactively, i.e. it applied to the current summer semester and continued until students exmatriculate from the corresponding study programme. The maximum period of exemption extended to the end of the corresponding standard period of study plus two additional semesters.

No other exemptions were available.

If you got into a financial emergency through no fault of your own after starting your studies, you could apply for a full or partial deferral (payment by instalments or deferred payment). If your situation was particularly difficult, you could also apply for a full or partial waiver of tuition fees (§ 7 LHGebG-state law on higher education fees).

If you had been naturalized in an EU/EEA country during your studies, you should have been provide us with your naturalization certificate or passport in the form of a legible copy together with the original (for comparison) as soon as possible.

If you had a legal reason for being exempt from tuition fees, but can only produced the corresponding documentation after your enrolment/re-registration through no fault of your own, you were fully reimbursed for any payment towards your tuition fees already made. The same applied if legal grounds for an exemption came into effect within a month after the start of the lecture period; after that you had to pay tuition fees for the relevant semester (§ 10 para. 4 sentences 1 and 2 Landeshochschulgebührengesetz LHGebG (state law on higher education fees)).