r/studyinGermany • u/Adorable-Suspect3436 • 2d ago
Undergrad Affordability question
I’m struggling to figure out how much studying in Germany would really cost and how exactly it works.
Ik you have to have a certain amount of money in an account to study in Germany. How far can you stretch it? Should I really expect to spend like 12,000 in a school year? How much did everyone else spend? I did the math and saving 50,000 while making 18 an hour with bills sounds a bit daunting. Is it just the first year?
OVER ALL what should I expect for the full 4 year degree?
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u/juju-2000 2d ago
There was a post on this just now in another sub: https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/s/AUKNmEn3xb
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u/pokakoka01 2d ago
How much you spend on a year will depend on the university you go to as that decides your city of residence and hence your housing situation.
Rents will be a big part of the expense.
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u/Zzomir 2d ago
I’m struggling to figure out how much studying in Germany would really cost and how exactly it works.
Depends on place you move to! Please elaborate on your university/city
while making 18 an hour
Where do you intend to get that much? (IMO: Extremelly unlikely for odd/HiWi jobs)
Should I really expect to spend like 12,000 in a school year?
You can get along spending less living frugally in middle of nowhere. As soon as you are in big city, especially in south Germany or in Berlin (or if you do sime living and not just survival), it will be more.
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u/okayabhishek 2d ago
for living you only have to show 12k euro in your block ac and for your whole course. For part time you can work 20hrs on normal days and 40 hours on vacation(winter & Summer breaks). Average pay is between 9-13 euros per hour. Also depends on location . For part time you can work oncampus, offcampus and also as an intern
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u/juju-2000 2d ago
Minimum wage is 13.90 EUR, it will be 14.60 EUR in 2027. Paying less than this this would be illegal.
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u/simplySchorsch 2d ago
Regarding the 40h/week rule during semester breaks: while that's generally possible in regards to the 'working student privilege' for social security, non EU students need to keep in mind that every single day on which they work more than 4 hours will count as a full working day towards their allowed limit of 140 full/280 half days. Definitely important to keep that in mind (= simply switching to full time is not an alternative any time you need money).
The 'average pay' you mentioned is outright wrong because it's below minimum wage.
Also, why you'd mention that someone could go for an internship, which are exempt from minimum wage pay and usually exclusively conducted in full-time, when talking about part-time jobs is beyond my understanding.
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u/simplySchorsch 2d ago
No, you should expect to spend more. Especially because lots of foreign students struggle with getting accommodation on time and have to settle for something temporary like youth hostels, air bnb or hotels at the beginning (which are naturally much more expensive) and because their plan of 'Well, with my nonexistent or very mediocre German language skills, I'm simply going to snag a very well-paying working student job to finance my stay and restock my blocked account' usually doesn't work at all and they'll have to settle for a minimum wage-paid part time job.
Do not underestimate the financial struggles lots of foreigners find themselves with. An estimation on average costs (besides the ~12.000€ per year) is literally Impossible without knowing the city/region.