Cost of Studying in Germany for Nepali Students: The Real Budget

Two numbers frame every Nepali family's budget for Germany. One is EUR 0, the tuition at most public universities. The other is EUR 992, the monthly amount the visa rules say a student needs to live on. Everything in this guide sits between those two figures: what you pay before you leave Kathmandu, what you pay each semester, what you pay each month, and what the whole thing adds up to for a two-year master's.

The money you show versus the money you spend

For a study visa you must prove at least EUR 992 a month, which is EUR 11,904 for twelve months, according to the federal Make it in Germany portal. That money is not a fee. It is your own living budget, usually parked in a blocked account and paid out to you month by month after you arrive; our blocked account guide covers when the Kathmandu Embassy asks for one and what it accepts instead.

What students actually spend is a separate question. DAAD's finance page gives a range of EUR 900 to EUR 1,200 monthly, varying with where you study. Rent is the biggest single item and the one that varies most from city to city.

Costs before you leave Nepal

Add your flight and travel health insurance for the first days; the Embassy asks for the flight booking and insurance only after it has approved the visa, so you don't pay for them before you know.

Costs every semester

Every student pays a semester contribution, somewhere between about EUR 70 and EUR 430 per semester according to DAAD. It funds student services and the student union, and at many universities it includes a public transport ticket. TUM, for example, charges EUR 97 at its Munich, Garching and Weihenstephan campuses.

Tuition is where the location matters: most state universities charge none, while Baden-Wuerttemberg charges non-EU students EUR 1,500 a semester and TUM charges more, as set out in our free tuition guide.

Costs every month

The broadcasting fee is easy to miss, since it is charged per home, television or not. Flatmates register one person and divide the bill. Student halls are different: if your room's door opens onto a shared public hallway, the room is treated as a separate home and owes EUR 18.36 by itself. The exemption for students applies to those receiving BAfoeG, the German state student grant, which most international students don't get.

A worked example: a two-year master's

Take a Nepali graduate starting a two-year master's at a state university that charges no tuition, applying to three programmes through uni-assist and using the visa minimum as the living budget.

Move the same plan to a university in Baden-Wuerttemberg and four semesters of tuition add EUR 6,000. Choose a city where rent pushes you towards EUR 1,200 a month and living costs alone reach EUR 28,800 over two years. Our cost breakdown in Nepali rupees converts these figures for your family's planning.

What brings the number down

Work. Students may work 140 full days or 280 half days a year, and the mini-job earnings limit is EUR 603 a month in 2026. DAAD is clear that a side job helps but rarely covers everything, so treat it as a top-up, not the plan.

Scholarships. Our scholarship database lists awards open to Nepali applicants; a DAAD scholarship also removes the visa fee.

Habits. Rent is the largest monthly item, so the choice between a shared flat, a student hall and a studio matters more than any one-off fee. Our guide to living in Germany on a budget goes through the rest.

Moving the money out of Nepal has its own rules. Nepal Rastra Bank lets banks exchange the amount a blocked account requires, in the student's name only, as explained in our guide to sending money from Nepal.