- Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Financial Issues
Costs and fees
Currently, no tuition fees are raised in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Ruhr-Universität charges a social fee of approx. € 336 each semester. This fee includes a ticket for the public transport system of the Ruhr Area for this period.
In addition, you should consider that you have to pay for accommodation, clothes and food – per month you should calculate approx. € 850 for that.
The semester ticket entitles all Ruhr-Universität students to use local public transport in all of North Rhine-Westphalia. It gives you the opportunity to explore this highly diverse federal state with its cities of Cologne, Düsseldorf, Aachen and Münster, or to make a trip to the neighbouring Netherlands.
The season ticket will be valid from the official start of your first semester at the university, i.e. April 1st and October 1st. The student ticket allows you to use any means of local public transportation in the VRR region. Taking a bike with you onto the train is free as well as having a second person riding on your ticket together with you from Monday-Friday after 7pm, and around the clock on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays. There is also a NRW rail pass, which has to be printed out extra every semester via VSPL. This rail pass is for one person, i.e. the ticket owner, only but allows you to travel through the whole area of NRW (see link below for a map; the ticket equals to the price category D).
Every household has to pay a fixed monthly rate of € 18.36 to the GEZ (Gebühreneinzugszentrale), the processing center for German TV and radio licenses.
At the beginning of the semester and for exam-preparation you may also have to spend some extra money on books.
Please keep that in mind when you are planning your studies!
Despite all your planning: should you ever get into financial trouble during your studies, please come to the International Office for personal advice. Together with you, the people there will try and find solutions for your situation!
Further information can be found here.
Scholarships
There are several scholarships, most of them bound to a specific faculty. Please inform yourself about the specific requirements for applications.
Scholarship Information
Scholarship Database
Student jobs
For finding student jobs, some knowledge of the German language is advantageous. You find information about taxes and social insurance here: Finance office Bochum South (German only). You must get a certificate of wage tax deduction at the local revenue office in your hometown. Without the certificate, you will not be able to earn money legally. There are several boards to find jobs online:
Job boards:
Stellenwerk
Stellenanzeigen NRW (German only)
Studentjob
Zenjob
Glassdoor