Living costs for student in Germany

Living in Germany as an international student could be expensive, with expenses starting from daily grocery shopping, study lamp, room heating costs, semester fees, room rent up to health insurance and more! Living as a student in Germany the average monthly expense is about 600 Euros.The expenses can be divided into three categories: Living expenses, University expenses, miscellaneous expenses.

Note: All the costs mentioned are with respect to cities like Aachen, Dresden, Duisburg, Essen, etc. The costs may rise in case of big cities like Munich, Dusseldorf, Cologne, etc. Also the costs can be varying with respect to the taste and lifestyle of an individual.

Living expenses

This includes expenses for room rent, daily grocery, heating for room, restaurant visits, and transport expenses. The total expense on average will range from 300 Euros to 500 Euros. (For more detailed list find it here: https://www.study-in.de/en/life/job-money/cost-of-living/) Although, many University provide students with travel facility up to a certain boundary at highly reduced rates (which are usually included in the semester fees). Apart from these, there could be onetime expense for furniture and kitchen cutlery, in case of unfurnished apartments. These expenses can range from 300 Euros to 700 Euros.

University expenses

This would constitute majorly of semester fees. Germany has been one of the most encouraging nations, when it comes to education. The government funding for about 11 major Universities  helps these Universities to encourage research projects as well as provide many courses at a very low cost. Thus in case of such courses the fees range from 200 Euros to 700 Euros. In case other courses the fees could range from 1000 Euros to 4000 Euros per semester. (A semester is of 6 months duration period). Apart from this, there could be other costs for industrial visits, ID cards, etc. which are low and will not generally exceed a hundred Euros.

Miscellaneous expenses

This will include costs for Health Insurance, medical expenses, occasional travel and trips, parties, etc. Health Insurance expenses usually range from 70 Euros to 90 Euros per month. Medical expenses will include occasional medicine costs in case of illness or uneasiness. This could also include special treatments, such as filling of the root canal at dentist (which is not generally covered by the Student Health Insurance). Party expenses and visits to night clubs will vary about 50 Euros, but travel and trip could be expensive especially if not planned early. There are also, student trips at low cost, with less time but with lots of new students, experiences and fun.

To conclude, if one manages to find a part time job, which is not an impossible feat (check out earlier post on this page “Getting job as an international student”), then the large amount of  the monthly expenses can be covered.