STUDENT FEES

Student fees are understood as any cost charged to students, including tuition fees but also administrative fees (eg for registration, examination, certification). Contributions to student organisations are not considered.

European higher education systems differ substantially with regards to the fee amounts charged for higher education studies. Various criteria for fee differentiation are applied, considering:

• education cycle;

• student category: home/international, students on non-state subsidised places, students studying in specific disciplines, students studying in foreign language programmes

• student status: full-time/part-time

• field of study (specific disciplines)

• type of programme (offered in a foreign language; second- or further-degree programme at the same educational level etc.);

• type of institution (universities, universities of applied sciences, colleges, art schools etc);

• students’ socio-economic background (need-based differentiation);

• students’ educational performance or study progression (performance-based differentiation)

Information in this section includes comparative data for 39 education systems on: 

• fees policies applied to students 

• criteria influencing the amounts

• fee amounts and share of fee-payers

• fee policies applied to international students

• waivers and reductions to fees