Tuition and other study fees

Starting in Winter Semester 2023/2024, all students at Furtwangen University are required to pay fees in the amount of €149 every semester in addition to any tuition fees required (see below). This is made up of the following fees and contributions:

• Administration fee €70
• Student services fee (includes accident, liability and theft insurance on the University grounds) €66
• Student Union contribution €13

German and EU citizens do not pay any tuition fees for bachelor's programmes.

Most master's programmes offered by HFU are free of charge for German and EU citizens.

Exceptions are usually the MBA programmes. More information can be found under the individual study programmes.

Tuition fees are payable by students who come to Germany to study in Baden-Württemberg, who are neither citizens of a state which is a member of the European Union (EU) nor of a state which is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA: Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein). These students normally have a residency permit issued according to paragraph 16 of the Residency Laws (§ 16 Aufenthaltsgesetz).

Tuition fees are €1,500 Euro per semester.

Tuition fees are payable for both a bachelor's study programme and a consecutive master's study programme.

Students who were enrolled in a study programme at Furtwangen University in summer semester 2017 (at the time the new LHGebG law came into effect) are protected under the existing law for this study programme.

Students can complete the study programme in which they were enrolled at the time when the law came into effect, free of tuition fees, at the university where they are enrolled.

If the study programme or university is changed, tuition fees will be payable. Changing from a bachelor's programme to a master's programme means tuition fees must be paid. The same applies if the student changes their course of study during the bachelor's or master's degree programme to another programme at the same or a different university. Tuition fees are also payable upon re-enrollment in cases where study is interrupted by disenrolment.

• Non-degree-seeking international students matriculated within the framework of a university agreement which is an exchange with a partner university and generally limited to 2 semesters, pay no tuition fees if mutual tuition fee waivers have been agreed upon within the partnership agreements.
• International students who are enrolled in an international cooperation study programme pay no tuition fees if the joint programme includes a mandatory study semester at the partner university which leads to a joint degree or to a degree at both universities, and mutual tuition fee waivers have been agreed upon.
• International students who are enrolled within the framework of agreements at state, federal or international level, which guarantee non-payment of tuition fees, pay no tuition fees. This would be the case, for example, within the framework of the Baden-Württemberg Programme.
• "Free-movers" must pay tuition fees, even if they do not intend to take a degree at Furtwangen University: international students who come to the university as temporary students normally for 2 semesters, to take part in a bachelor's or consecutive master's degree programme, but who do not come within the framework of a university cooperation, must pay tuition fees in accordance with § 60 para. 1, sentence 5 of the State University Regulations (LHG).

In principle the following persons are exempted:

• German citizens
• Citizens of a European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA) state
• Most refugees
• Non-German students who have gained a German university entrance qualification (Abitur) in Germany or at a German school abroad
• Doctoral candidates
• Students with a "well-established relationship" ( "gefestigten Inlandsbezug") to Germany (see § 5 of the State University Tuition Regulations - LHGebG)
• Non-EU or EEA citizens who hold a Permanent Settlement Permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis) or a EU Long-term Residence Permit (Erlaubnis zum Daueraufenthalt - EU) under the Residence Act (AufenthG)
• Refugees whose habitual abode is in Germany, who are recognized under the Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and whose entitlement to reside in Germany is not merely provisional (§ 5 Abs. 1 Nr. 3 LHGebG).
• Displaced persons according to the Legal Status of displaced persons in Germany Law (Gesetz über die Rechtsstellung heimatloser Ausländer im Bundesgebiet)
• Non-EU or EEA citizens who have their permanent residence in Germany and hold a residence permit under international law or on humanitarian, political, family or other grounds, who have good prospects of being allowed to remain (e.g. persons entitled to asylum, refugees recognised domestically under the Geneva Convention for Refugees or dependents who join family members who are German or are foreigners with permanent residence status). This includes all those who hold a residence permit under §§ 22, 23 paragraph 1, 2 or 4, §§ 23a, 25 paragraph 1 or 2, §§ 25a, 25b, 28, 37, 38, paragraph 1, sentence 1, number 2 and § 104a of the Residence Act (AufenthG), or those who have a residence permit as spouse, life partner or child of a foreigner with permanent residence status under §§ 30 or 32 to 34 of the Residence Act (AufenthG).
• Non-EU or EEA citizens who reside permanently in Germany and hold a residence permit under § 25 paragraph 3 or 4, sentence 2, or paragraph 5 or § 31 of the Residence Act (AufenthG) or hold a residence permit under §§ 30 or 32 to 34 of the Residence Act (AufenthG) as the spouse, life partner or child of a foreigner with a residence permit and who have been legally present in Germany without interruption for at least 15 months in Germany, with authorization (gestattet) or with temporary suspension of deportation (geduldet) status.
• Non-EU or EEA citizens who have temporary suspension of deportation (§ 60a of Residence Act), who have their permanent residence in Germany and who have been legally present in Germany continuously for at least 15 months and who have a residence permit which allows temporary suspension of deportation (geduldet).
• Non-EU or EEA citizens who have lived for a total of 5 years in Germany and were in lawful employment (§ 5 Abs. 1 Nr. 8 LHGebG).
• 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 (§ 5 Abs. 1 Nr. 9 LHGebG).

Exemption from tuition fees is allowed in the following cases (§ 6 State University Tuition Regulations - LHGebG):

• Students on leave of absence under § 61 State University Regulations - LHG, if application for leave of absence was applied for before the start of the lecture period.
• Students in a practical study semester which is part of their regular studies under § 29, paragraph 3, sentence 2 State University Regulations - LHG.
• Students who are non-EU or EEA citizens with a residence permit under § 55, paragraph 1 Asylum Law, who have citizenship of a country which the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees assesses as having a high protection quota - § 6 Abs. 6 LHGebG.  Currently these are: Eritrea and Syria.
• Students with a disability which significant hinders their studies as set out in § 2 of the 9th book of the Social Welfare Statutes (Sozialgesetzbuch).

The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and The Arts can pass legislation for the reduction of or exemption from tuition fees.

Students who wish to take a second or further bachelor's degree or a second or further master's degree must pay tuition fees. This does not apply for degrees taken abroad.

Since winter semester 2017/2018, Furtwangen University charges tuition fees on behalf of the State of Baden-Württemberg for a second course of studies (Zweitstudium), i.e. a second or further bachelor's degree (bachelor's or other degree programme under § 34 para. 1 LHG), or for a second or further master's degree, if either of these or equivalent qualifications was awarded in Germany (§ 8 Abs. 1 LHGebG).

"Double tuition fees" will not be charged, i.e. international students who have already paid tuition fees, do not have to pay tuition fees for a second course of studies.

Tuition fees for a second course of studies are €650 per semester.

The following are exempted from paying tuition fees for a second course of studies:

• Students who have changed courses within a degree programme or have changed their degree programme without completing the degree (§ 8 Abs. 2 LHGebG)
• Students who have already been awarded a degree abroad
• Doctoral candidates
• Students taking a parallel degree (§ 8 Abs. 5 LHGebG)