Student Accommodation in Germany

Choosing a place to stay during a Masters abroad is a key moment requiring a lot of planning. Ultimately, it is a matter of calling one entirely new apartment, house or even a room your current home! In this article, you will learn all about the options ahead when choosing the right accommodation, but within a certain country – Germany, the land of ideas. Los geht’s!

Among the most common debates going on in the head of a student just after successful admission is the possibility of finding either public or private housing. But let’s face it – you’ve already been there as a Bachelor student and you are well aware of the pros and cons of each option. 

On the one handy, university accommodation is usually the cheaper solution, but competition can be extremely high. In addition, ideal comfort is rarely guaranteed, especially in cases when there is only a single room given to 2 or more people. And lastly, for some students it is simply impossible to resort to this sort of housing, as the amount of noise, lack of space and inner disharmony can lead to disruptive overall studying as well. 

On the other hand, private accommodation is perfect for both people who want to live on their own or together with friends. Choice is rich and allows flexibility in terms of finding a good location and reasonable transport connections. However, all of this always comes with a certain price, or rent – which is rarely within a student budget. There are also utilities and of course landlords that can be a real nightmare!

You are starting to remember, right? Well, unless you have been an undergraduate at a German university previously, you should know that student accommodation is something completely different in Germany. Much like their beer, cars and football!

For example, public accommodation is not automatically guaranteed as an option for each admitted student. Instead, each future Masters student is required to apply for a housing which can be easily done online. Indeed, Germans are living in 2109! On a serious note, the drawbacks hereare that you would have to apply as soon as possible, preferably just after being accepted and of course – the huge amount of people competing with you. 

In order to present further information, should you wish to apply for a Masters starting in September/October, you would then have to keep in mind the application period in Germany starting on 1st May and ending on 15th July. Or in other words this means that in the best case scenario, you can begin with applying for public accommodation during the summer, given that you receive a green light from your chosen German university. 

Currently, there are 1100 student halls available making up around 190,000 individual placements. The main responsible housing organization is Studentenwerk which operates both nationally and locally. Wondering about the pricing? Depending on the offer, you can find good rent deals in the area of €250-€300 monthly, including utilities, for a standard shared room with included TV and Internet access. However, if you are more financially independent, you can also end up with housing opportunities ranging from €700-€800 per month. Of course, here you would be looking at better furnishing, higher amount of rooms and a central location. Sehr gut, ja?

Moving on to private accommodation in Germany, the picture here is slightly different. For bigger cities like Berlin, Munich, Hamburg or Cologne, the general prices for a monthly rent in the city center can range between €700 and €1350. Ach, nee!

Tip: Interested in learning about a Masters in Germany? Check out the latest article provided by the MASTER AND MORE team here!

But then, if you decide to lower your expectations, a single bedroom apartment outside the central area can cost as much as €550. Combined with utilities, your monthly rent for accommodation can quickly round up as much as €700 – not bad at all! Especially when you remember that as a student coming from Switzerland or the EU/EEA, or in some cases from a third country – you are not required to pay any tuition fees for your Masters degree at your chosen German public university! 

In fact, there is also the possibility of receiving completely free access to your city public transport network after paying the Semesterbeitrag – the only form of semester payment required by most universities in Germany, typically in the area of €200-€250. Or to put it simply, you would be saving serious amounts of finances allowing space for much suitable accommodation during your Masters studies. 

Note: If you end up in a tense situation in which you failed to find reasonable accommodation but you are already in Germany, see if you would be able to find a youth hostel – they are extremely popular within the whole country.