Exemptions
Students could be exempted from paying tuition fees in special circumstances. All applications for exemptions had to be submitted before the start of the semester (§ 6 para. 4 sentence 2 Landeshochschulgebührengesetz old version) (state law on higher education fees). With the elimination of the general tuition fees by the end of the 2011/2012 winter semester (31 March 2012), all claims for reimbursement, as long as they were submitted on time and for approved exemption reasons, have expired statutes of limitations as of 1 January 2016 (Regelverjährung nach § 195 Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch) (regulation change according to § 195 German civil law code).
- Students with children under 14 years
- Students with two or more siblings who were not exempted for the same reason at a state university in Baden-Württemberg.
- Students with a significant study-limiting disability.
- Students with an exceptional ability (intellectual giftedness) or graduates with exceptional academic performance
Exceptions
Exceptions included circumstances where students were on approved leaves of absence or were taking part in required study or internships abroad during the standard period of study. These were identified on a form submitted to the Student Service Centre. Doctoral students did not have to pay tuition fees. Those students whose study and examination regulations confirmed that their studies required simultaneous enrolment at more than one university were only required to pay tuition fees at the university where they completed most of their classes in their study concentration (§ 5 para. 1 sentence 3 Landeshochschulgebührengesetz old version (state law on higher education fees)). This applied to, for example, students from the Musikhochschule Trossingen or the Kunstakademie Stuttgart, who only had to take courses in their additional major or minor subject at the University of Konstanz.
Deferment
The tuition fee could be deferred upon application when the student could no longer receive loans from the L-Bank and could prove that he or she was suffering from significant hardships (risks associated to financial or personal livelihood). A deferment of the tuition fee was possible when, for example, a student was suffering from financial hardship around the time of their final examination.
Waiver
The universities could waive tuition fees in part or in total in individual cases upon application. Such individual hardship cases were taken into consideration, for example, when a student had to take a leave of absence due to circumstances that occurred during the semester (e.g. childbirth, illness, delayed signing of the internship contract) or in situations where students had to look after relatives who were in need of nursing care.