Tuition fees for international students (1,500.00 euros per semester)
Legal basis
The information below is intended to outline the relevant law and the related procedures; the sole legally binding document is the Landeshochschulgebührengesetz des Landes Baden-Württemberg.
Tuition fee exceptions will be granted automatically in the following cases:
- Students who are citizens of an EU or EEA member state,
- Students enrolling for a doctoral program,
- Students on exchanges arising from partnership agreements with the University of Tübingen (e.g. Erasmus),
- Double Degree students from partner institutions abroad, if mutual tuition fee waivers have been agreed in the partnership agreements (this is usually the case).
Tuition fee exceptions because of cooperation
Please note that in this case you are obliged to cooperate by submitting the "Information Form for International Students" within a specific time limit. Tuition fee exceptions are possible for:
- Non-Germans with German higher education entrance according to § 3 paragraph 2 Landeshochschulgebührengesetz,
- Family members (spouses, de facto partners, children) of citizens of EU and EEA countries under § 3 of EU freedom of movement law.
- Non-EU or EEA citizens who have a settlement permit or permanent EU residence permit according to the German residence act.
- Refugees whose habitual abode is in Germany, who are recognized under the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and whose entitlement to reside in Germany is not merely provisional.
- Displaced persons under the (post-World War II) Gesetz über die Rechtsstellung heimatloser Ausländer im Bundesgebiet.
- Non-EU or EEA citizens permanently residing in Germany with a residence permit for international law, humanitarian, political, family-related or other reasons and good prospects of remaining (e.g. of being granted asylum).
- Non-EU or EEA citizens with permanent residence in Germany who have been legally present in Germany without interruption for at least 15 months and who have a particular form of residence permit (e.g., due to a stay of deportation or other obstacle to leaving the country).
- Non-EU or EEA citizens with permanent residence in Germany who have been legally present in Germany without interruption for at least 15 months.
- Non-EU or EEA citizens who have been present in Germany for five years and have been legally employed.
- Non-EU or EEA citizens with at least one parent who has lived in Germany for a total of 3 of the 6 years prior to the start of the applicant’s studies and who was legally employed.
- Non-EU or EEA citizens who have completed a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree or a Staatsexamen or diploma study program in Germany (cf. Second Degree Tuition Fees),
- Citizens of Switzerland, if the the exception according to “Freizügigkeitsabkommen EU/Schweiz” applies to them,
- Citizens of Turkey, if the exception according to „Beschluss Nr. 1/80 des Assoziationsrates vom 19. September 1980 über die Entwicklung der Assoziation (EWG/Türkei)“ applies to them,
- Holders of a scholarship by Baden-Württemberg Stiftung.
Tuition fee exemptions upon application
After receiving the official notification of tuition fees you can apply for an exemption from the tuition fee at the very latest prior to the start of lectures. Exemptions from the tuition fee are possible for:
- Students with an “Aufenthaltsgestattung” residence document under § 55 paragraph 1 Asylgesetz, who have citizenship of a country which the Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge assesses as having a protection quota of 50 percent or higher, as announced by the German interior ministry.
- Students in their year of practical training according to “Approbationsordnung für Ärzte” (medical internship).
- Students in a placement semester (internship) which is part of their regular studies.
- Students with a significant disability which hinders their studies as set out in § 2 SGB IX.
- Students on a leave of absence. Attention: A tuition fee exemption because of a leave of absence is only possible, if there's a reason for a leave of absence, your application for a leave of absence is approved and was received by Student Administration before the beginning of the lecture period.
Brexit
Students from the United Kingdom who have taken up their studies with their own residence in Germany by 31 December 2020 (=end of transitional period) are not liable to pay tuition fees for international students according to § 3 paragraph 1 Landeshochschulgebührengesetz (LHGebG).
From the winter semester 2021/2022, students form the United Kingdom who wish to enroll in an undergraduate degree program (=Bachelor’s degree program, Staatsexamen program and full Theology programs culminating in an academic or ecclesiastic qualification) or a consecutive Master’s degree program at the University of Tübingen will be charged a tuition fee of 1,500 euros per semester. The tuition fee would not be charged in case of an exception or exemption.