Scholarships in Germany: A Guide to Studying in Germany for FREE

Do you want to study in Germany completely free?

You’ve come to the right place.

Here I’m going to explain everything you need to know about scholarships in Germany and how you can take advantage of them to travel and study with all expenses paid.

Specifically, in this guide you will learn:

• Why studying in Germany is a good idea for you
• Which are the best German scholarships for you?
• What you need to do to win one of these scholarships

Now then, let’s begin.

Why should I study in Germany?

This country, located in the heart of Europe, is recognized for its culture, landscapes, education, and excellent quality of life.

Germany is a great country to study in because, in most of its 16 federal states, education is free for both locals and international students.

In addition, there are different scholarship programs you can access, and these can cover not only living expenses but also round-trip tickets and travel insurance.

That means you can travel and study in Germany completely free of charge.

Great! Now I’ll show you some of their scholarships.

Types of scholarships to study in Germany

There are many opportunities to obtain scholarships in Germany, but before that it is important that you first distinguish between the different types of scholarships in that country:

• DAAD scholarships: which is the German academic exchange agency (for its acronym in German) and offers the most generous scholarships since they usually cover both academic expenses and living expenses, and even round-trip tickets.
• Regional Scholarships: such as the Deutschland Stipendium, which are aimed at students already studying in Germany and cover a monthly allowance for living expenses.
• University scholarships: which cover part or all of the academic expenses and in some cases living expenses.

What are the best scholarships for studying in Germany?

There are scholarships in Germany for all types of studies, in different fields and levels. These include postgraduate studies (master’s degrees, doctorates) as well as undergraduate degrees, and each scholarship has its own specific requirements.

Below, I’ll show you the best scholarships to study in that wonderful country:

Scholarships in Germany for Postgraduate Studies

Scholarships for postgraduate studies in Germany are the most sought after, as they cover virtually all of the student’s expenses.

Among them, the following stand out:

Epos Scholarships: for related studies in development

Provider: German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Level of study:  Scholarship in Germany for Master’s degrees

You will be able to study: These scholarships will allow you to study in one of more than 30 master’s programs in different areas of knowledge such as:

• Economic and administrative sciences
• Development Cooperation
• Engineering and related sciences
• Math
• Regional and Urban Planning
• Forestry and Agricultural Sciences
• Natural and Environmental Sciences
• Medicine and Public Health
• Social Sciences, Education and Law
• Media studies

Eligibility: Professionals from different developing countries with at least 2 years of professional experience after graduation. 

Benefits:

• Travel expenses
• Tuition payment
• A monthly rent subsidy
• Health insurance payments
• 6-month German course

Application process: Directly with the university that offers the academic program.

Application deadline: Between October and January of each year (depending on the academic program to which you are applying)

Official website of the scholarship: EPOS Scholarship

Read Also: 8 Best Scholarships for Undergraduate Studies Abroad

Scholarships for Public Policy and Good Governance

Provider: German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Level of study: Scholarship in Germany for Master’s degrees

You can study: Master’s degrees in Public Policy and Good Governance such as:

• Master’s Degree in Analysis and Design of Social Protection Systems
• Master’s Degree in Development and Governance
• Master’s Degree in Peace and Conflict Studies

Eligibility: Aimed at professionals with university degrees in fields such as administration, law, economics and politics, who have distinguished themselves through their excellent academic efforts and who have the potential to generate social change with an impact on social, economic and political development in their countries of origin.

Benefits:

• Full payment of tuition fees (to study for free in Germany)
• A  monthly allowance of €992  to pursue a master’s degree.
• Health insurance
• Round trip tickets
• Financial contribution for research processes
• 6-month German course

Application process: Online directly with the university

Application deadline: Between June and July of each year

Official website of the scholarship: Helmut Schmidt Scholarship

Scholarships in Germany for musicians

Provider: German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Level of study: Master’s degree or advanced study project/study

You can study: At any German state music university of your choice.

Eligibility: Offered to all professionals who wish to study in areas of music.

Benefits:

• Monthly payment of 934 EUR
• Airline tickets
• Health insurance
• Accommodation
• Allocation for German course

***Does not cover the cost of the study program***

Application process: Online directly through the official scholarship website.

Application deadline: September of each year.

Official website of the scholarship: Scholarships for postgraduate studies in the field of Music

Scholarships in Germany for artists

Provider: German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Level of study: Master’s degree or advanced study project/study

You can study: At any German state music university of your choice.

Eligibility: Offered to all professionals who wish to study in the fields of Fine Arts, Design, Visual Communication and Film

Benefits:

• Monthly payment of 934 EUR
• Airline tickets
• Health insurance
• One-time grant for studies
• Accommodation
• Allocation for German course

***Funding is not available for master’s programs already underway in Germany.***

***This scholarship does not cover the cost of tuition***

Application process: Online directly through the official scholarship website.

Application deadline: November of each year.

Official website of the scholarship: Scholarships in Germany for artists

Scholarships for architecture and design

Provider: German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Level of study: Master’s degree or advanced study project/study

You can study: Architecture , Interior Design, Monument Conservation, Urban Planning / Urban Development, Regional Planning, Landscape Architecture , Landscape Planning.

Eligibility: These scholarships are aimed at citizens of countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru, who have academic excellence.

Benefits:

• Monthly payment of 934 EUR
• Air ticket
• Health insurance
• Housing payment subsidy
• Allocation for German course

Application process: Online through the official scholarship website.

Application deadline: Between September and October of each year

Official website of the scholarship: Scholarships for the field of architecture

Scholarships for performing arts

Provider: German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Level of study: Master’s

You can study: Drama, theatre directing/playwriting, musicals, acting studies, dance and choreography

Eligibility: Offered to all professionals who wish to study in the fields of performing arts

Benefits:

• Monthly payment of 934 EUR
• Air ticket
• Health insurance
• Housing payment subsidy
• Allocation for German course

Application process: Online through the official scholarship website.

Application deadline: Between October of each year

Official website of the scholarship: Scholarships for the field of performing arts

Scholarships in the STEM field

Provider: German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Level of study: Master’s

You can study: mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, and engineering.

Eligibility: Offered to all students from developing and emerging countries who wish to pursue a STEM master’s degree

Benefits:

• Monthly payment of 934 EUR
• Air ticket
• Health insurance
• Housing payment subsidy
• Annual study allowance of 460 euros
• Allocation for German course

Application process: Online through the official scholarship website.

Application deadline: Between September of each year

Official website of the scholarship: STEM Master’s Scholarship

Scholarships in Germany for Colombians

Provider: German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and Colfuturo

Level of study: Master’s and Doctorate

You can study: In any area of ​​knowledge at one of the best German universities.

Eligibility: For Colombian citizens applying for the Colfuturo loan-scholarship.

Benefits: This program will provide you with generous benefits, including:

• Intensive German course
• Travel expenses
• Orientation seminar in Germany
• Meeting of scholarship recipients in Germany
• Maintenance allowance
• Health insurance
• Language course if you have a spouse.

Application process: Directly through the Colfuturo platform, adding the DAAD agreement documentation.

Application deadline: February of each year (same as Colfuturo)

Official scholarship website: Agreement in Germany: Colfuturo-DAAD

Doctoral scholarships in different areas of knowledge

Provider:  German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Level of study: Scholarships in Germany for PhDs

Eligibility:

• Applicants must not have graduated with a master’s degree more than six years before the application deadline. If they are already pursuing a doctorate, they should not have started their studies more than three years prior.
• Not having resided in Germany for more than 15 months at the application deadline.

Benefits:

• Monthly allowance of 1,200 EUR for living expenses
• Health insurance
• Airline tickets
• Research expenses
• Monthly allowance for family members and companions
• Allocation for German course

Application process: Directly online through the official scholarship website.

Application deadline: August and September of each year.

Official website of the scholarship: Scholarships for PhD programs in Germany

GSSP: Scholarship Program for Postgraduate Studies

Provider:  German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Level of study: Scholarships in Germany for PhD

You can study : At any of the best German universities.

Eligibility: Available to young people with excellent academic records and scientists who hold a master’s degree or bachelor’s degree in exceptional cases.

Benefits:

• Health insurance
• Child support payment
• Round-trip tickets
• Annual research grant

Application process: Directly online through the official scholarship website.

Application deadline: October and November of each year.

Official website of the scholarship:   PhD scholarship

Friedrich Ebert Scholarship for undergraduate or master’s studies

Offeror: Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

You will be able to study: This scholarship allows you to study in Germany for your undergraduate or master’s degree in any field of study. Furthermore, the program can be taught in English or German.

Benefits

• Monthly living allowance (830 EUR for undergraduate degrees and 850 EUR for master’s degrees).
• Additional allowance of 276 euros per child, if the student has children and they travel with them.

Eligibility: 

• Having been born in a country in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the post-Soviet States or Eastern Europe.
• Having been admitted to a higher education program in Germany.
• Academic or outstanding school merit.
• Social and political involvement and commitment to the values ​​of democracy.
• Responsible, motivated and reliable people, willing to get involved with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Network.
• Sufficient knowledge of German, even if the courses are taught in English. This means a “Deutsche Sprachprüfung für den Hochschulzugang” of at least DSH level 2, a “Test Deutsch als Fremdsprache” of at least level 4, a “Zertifikat C1” from a Goethe Institute, the “Deutsche Sprachdiplom der Kultusministerkonferenz” of level II, or a Telc C1 Hochschule

Application process: Online directly on the official Friedrich Ebert Foundation website.

Application deadline: November of each year for studies that begin in winter; and May of each year for those that begin in summer.

SBW Berlin Scholarship

For undergraduate/graduate/Bachelor’s or Master’s studies in any field of knowledge, provided they are in the cities of Berlin or Potsdam, Germany.
Benefits:

• Full payment for the studies.
• Accommodation in Berlin.
• Maintenance stipend.
• Financial support of up to €1,000 for air tickets.

Requirements:

• Be between 18 and 30 years old
• Being a national of a country that has a particular need for development assistance (such as those in Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and South America).
• Professional or volunteer experience in the non-profit sector
• Strong intention to return to their home country for at least 18 months after studying in Germany
• Being able to demonstrate a relatively low net income
• Not having any first-degree family members permanently residing in Germany
• Not having resided in Germany for more than 18 months prior to the application
• Academic average of at least 2.0 on the German scale, which is equivalent to 86% of the maximum grade
• If you are applying for undergraduate/graduate/bachelor’s degrees, you must apply for the scholarship before the start of your studies or at the latest in the third semester of studies (in Germany or abroad).
• If you are applying for a master’s degree, you should apply for the scholarship shortly before or after obtaining your undergraduate degree.

Application process: the application is done online on the official website of the SBW Berlin scholarship .

Application deadline: You can apply twice a year: between May and June, and between November and December.

Undergraduate Scholarships in Germany

Apart from the 2 scholarships above that apply to both master’s and undergraduate/bachelor’s degrees , in Germany several universities offer their own scholarships to foreign students.

Furthermore, in Germany you can study at a very low cost or even for free thanks to subsidized education and the country’s public universities.

Some examples of universities in Germany that are free for international students are:

• Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
• Humboldt University of Berlin
• University of Mannheim
• University of Cologne
• Technical University of Munich
• University of Hamburg
• Free University of Berlin
• University of Bonn (Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn)
• RWTH Technical University of Aachen (Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen)

Furthermore, once in Germany you can apply for the various government living allowances such as the Deutschlandstipendium, which provides up to 300 EUR per month.

On the other hand, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) offers several partial scholarships for temporary and more focused academic activities.

Scholarships to study German in Germany

What better place to study German than your home country?

And although it may seem strange, there are some programs designed for people who want to study German in Germany for free.

Basically, there are two general options for these programs, but both consist of intensive courses to perfect language skills:

• Scholarships for German summer courses at German universities.
• Scholarships for winter courses at German universities.

If you are looking for a scholarship that includes language study for a longer period, then you should apply for one of the postgraduate scholarships that include an intensive German course of 2 to 6 months, such as the EPOS or Helmut scholarships.

Living allowance scholarships in Germany

The Hanns Seidel Foundation offers living stipends each year to Latinos studying in Germany

Offeror: Hanns Seidel Stiftung

Benefits: The scholarship amount is:

• Apprentices receive a flat rate of 300 euros per month.
• Master’s students receive a maximum of 855 euros per month plus a flat fee of 300 euros for study expenses.
• PhD students receive a maximum of 1,550 euros per month plus a flat fee of 100 euros for research expenses.

Requirements:

• You must be a national of one of the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Peru
• Be under 45 years old
• Demonstrate academic excellence
• Have an acceptance letter from a German university
• Have a solid knowledge of German
• To participate consistently and very actively in volunteer activities
• Show great interest in current political affairs and civil society
• Support democracy, the rule of law, and human rights. 

IMPORTANT: Requirements and benefits may vary depending on your country of origin

Application process: Through the official link of the call for applications 

Deadline: mid-July of each year

Official page: Hanns Seidel Scholarship

What do I need to win a scholarship in Germany?

Each scholarship will have different requirements and application processes, so I recommend that you carefully read the call for applications that interests you.

On the other hand, the general recommendations for winning a DAAD scholarship in Germany are as follows:

• Have academic and/or professional experience related to the program you want to study
• Have a very good academic average (I recommend a minimum of 80% of the maximum grade).
• Not having resided in Germany for more than 15 months.
• Meet the requirements of the call for applications

Documentation for DAAD scholarships

Some of the most important documentation requirements for applying are the following:

• The DAAD form has been duly completed.
• A personally signed CV. You must submit it using the Europass form.
• Signed letter of motivation (maximum two pages). You can apply to a maximum of three courses and you must justify your choice.
• Letter of recommendation from your current boss, letterhead, signature and official seal.
• Employment certificates for a minimum of two years.
• Language certificates in either English or German. For applications to programs in English, you must have an IELTS certificate (Band 6) or TOEFL (minimum score: 550 on paper, 213 on computer, 80 on Internet).

Where can I find other scholarships to study in Germany?

The above scholarships are just some of those that exist for studying in Germany.

If you want to find more options, there are several ways to find scholarships for the specific programs you want, but the best way is to use the official DAAD website .

There you can filter the information depending on the level, area of ​​study, and also by the name of programs that do or do not offer scholarships.

On this page you can easily see the features of each program: its costs, how to apply, key dates, and all the information necessary to then make the respective application.

Next, we’ll tell you about two ways to search for scholarships through the DAAD.

In the scholarship database

STEP 1: Find and access the official DAAD website

The first thing you should do is go to the official DAAD website. The information is available in English and German.

STEP 2: Access the scholarship database

Once you are on the official DAAD website, you should scroll to the bottom of the page and select the Scholarships – for Germany option. This will display the Scholarship Database.

STEP 3: Find available scholarships

When you are on the Scholarship Database page, you will easily see that, on the left side, there is a box with different search spaces.

Here you can enter the following information to find scholarships that match your interests. This information includes:

1. Program title or keyword.
2.  Program level or program for.
3. Country of origin.
4. Thematic area.
5. Inter alia.

For example, we will perform the exercise by searching for academic programs related to a specific area of ​​study, in this case, Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

By entering the program name, we can see that there are 168 scholarships available for these areas of study, including undergraduate, master’s, doctoral, short courses, etc.

STEP 4: Learn about the program information

Once you find your program of interest, you can easily access it to learn more. Here we can see that the page for the selected program, in this case Mathematics and Natural Sciences, provides information such as:

• Who is the scholarship for?
• What is its duration?
• What are your requirements?
• What are its benefits?
• Among other aspects.

Each scholarship will have its own characteristics; you just need to identify which program best suits your interests and profile.

In the database of academic programs

Another way you can search for scholarships is through the database of academic programs in Germany.

To find this database, you will need to:

STEP 1: Go back to the top of the DAAD page.

There, you can scroll down and find the selection of scholarship options again. Clicking on International Programs will take you there easily.

STEP 2: Search on the official website of international programs in Germany

Once you are on this page, you will see three filters that you can use to perform your search:

• Course type
• Course language
• Field of study

But all you have to do is click the Search button to see the full range of academic programs.

STEP 3: Find the program that suits your interests

Clicking the Search button will display the database of international programs in Germany, showing a list of all academic programs available for the current search period.

On the left side you will see a list of filters that will allow you to easily segment your search, either by:

• Keyword: In case you want to search for the specific name of an academic program.
• Course type: Whether you are looking for undergraduate, master’s, doctoral programs, language courses or short courses.
• Field of study: It will allow you to select from the different areas of study that Germany offers, such as: Agricultural Sciences, Art, Engineering, Law, Economics, Sports, Medicine , among others.
• Course language : Here you can select the language in which you would like to find academic programs. You can choose between English, German, both, or another language.
• Location: Remember that Germany has 16 federal states, so in this filter you can select the state of your choice where you would like to study.
• Type of institution : Here you will see the different options of academic institutions present in Germany, such as the university of applied sciences or some unspecified research institute.
• Institution: Names of specific universities on which you can focus your choice.

Now, to find completely free academic programs in Germany with generous scholarships, you should go to the button called Advanced Search, which will allow you to perform a more specific search and find generous scholarships.

This is located below the first filters.

This button offers you the following search, with which you can find free programs:

• Tuition fees: This will be the most important section because it will allow you to choose free or very cheap tuition options.

If you select the no-charge option, you can find academic programs that match your interests, either completely free or at low cost, ranging from 500 EUR to 1500 EUR per semester.

• Starting : Here you can select the time you plan to start your studies, either summer or winter.
• Duration: Up to two, three or four years, depending on your choice.

STEP 4: Enter a free academic program

Since your goal will be to find free tuition programs , we will select any master’s degree as an example.

By selecting the “no fees” option, you will see a list of completely free master’s degree programs in Germany. There are a total of 955 results or more.

STEP 5: Enter any program from the list

By detailing the complete list, the goal is for you to access the programs that interest you to learn all the details and how to apply.

In this case, we will enter the option of a Master’s degree in Actuarial and Financial Mathematics.

Here you will find all the information you need to learn more about this program by scrolling down.

This is how it tells us that it is a program offered in English, with a duration of 4 semesters, and also provides us with details of its academic objectives.  

Then you can go to the costs and financing tab , where you will be told that the program has no tuition fee, meaning it is completely free.

This is due to Germany’s initiative to offer free tuition for national and international students. 

In some programs, you will be told in the semi-annual contribution section that you must allocate a financial contribution for certain expenses, but they are very economical.

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For example, in this program they indicate that you must allocate a semester contribution of 285 EUR, for transport costs in the Kaiserslautern area (region where you will study), with the possibility of accessing sports courses.

And yet another expense for an intensive German course.

In this way, you can see how academic programs in Germany are completely free and that contribution costs are very economical compared to pursuing a master’s degree in any Latin American country.

The page will also detail the living costs you will incur in a given city while pursuing your studies and will provide you with more detailed information for your application, such as:

• Admission requirements
• Application deadline
• Course details
• Inter alia.