Germany is the answer everyone gives when an international student says they can't afford university abroad. And the headline is true: public universities charge no tuition, to Germans and foreigners alike.

What nobody explains is everything that sits behind that sentence. The number of degrees you can actually study in English is small. Your school-leaving certificate may not qualify you at all. And before an embassy gives you a visa, you have to park close to €12,000 in a German bank account.

None of that makes Germany a bad idea. Ahmed from Egypt is at RWTH Aachen on a fully-funded bachelor's. Layla from Kazakhstan is studying Informatik at TUM. It does mean the planning starts a year earlier than you think.

What it actually costs

The tuition part is genuine. In DAAD's words, "There are generally no fees for Bachelor's courses or most Master's courses at state higher education institutions."

One state is the exception. Baden-Württemberg charges non-EU citizens €1,500 per semester, which is €3,000 a year. That covers the University of Heidelberg, the University of Freiburg, KIT in Karlsruhe, the University of Stuttgart and the University of Tübingen, so a lot of famous names sit inside the one state that bills you.

Everywhere else, what you pay each semester is the semester contribution, between €70 and €430 depending on the university. It funds student services and the student government, and at many universities it includes a semester ticket for local public transport, which is one of the better deals in European student life.

Then there's living. DAAD puts the typical student's spending at about €876 a month on 2023 figures, and the visa requires you to show more than that, which brings us to the number that catches people out.

The blocked account. To get a student visa you must prove your funding, and the most common route is a Sperrkonto, a German bank account you pay into and can then withdraw from only in monthly instalments. The requirement is €992 a month, or €11,904 for a year, and the banks that open these accounts charge a setup fee of roughly €70 to €150 on top.

So the honest arithmetic for year one, outside Baden-Württemberg: no tuition, a few hundred euros in semester contributions, and about €12,000 you have to show you already have. Germany is not free. It is unusually cheap, in exchange for proving you can support yourself.

The English-taught problem

This is the constraint that decides most plans, and it's the reason most international students who "go to Germany" are postgraduates.

DAAD's International Programmes database is the official catalogue of degrees aimed at international students. Filter it for programmes taught in English only and you get:

Germany is an English-language master's destination and a German-language bachelor's destination. At undergraduate level you are choosing from a couple of hundred programmes in the entire country, many of them at private universities or in specific fields like engineering and business.

Two workable routes follow from that.

Learn German. It takes most people a year or two to reach the B2 or C1 level a German-taught degree needs, and it opens the whole system rather than 237 programmes. Students who take this route usually do a language year before or alongside a Studienkolleg.

Go private, or go to one of the international universities. Constructor University in Bremen teaches in English and is where several Borderless students ended up: from Romania, from Syria. It charges tuition, so it is a different financial proposition from a public university, and the trade you're making is money for language.

Whether your school certificate even counts

Germany decides university entry on something called the Hochschulzugangsberechtigung (HZB), a higher education entrance qualification. The problem is that not every country's school-leaving certificate is treated as equivalent to the German Abitur, because the school systems differ in length and structure.

If yours isn't recognised, you cannot enter a German university directly. The route in is a Studienkolleg, a one-year preparatory course ending in an exam called the Feststellungsprüfung. Passing it gives you access to universities across Germany.

Two things to check before you commit to one:

1. Public Studienkollegs guarantee a state-recognised assessment test. Only a few private ones can offer a state-recognised qualification, so check that status before paying anyone.
2. Look up your own country first. DAAD runs an admission database built on anabin, the Central Office for Foreign Education's record of which foreign qualifications are recognised. It will tell you whether you need a Studienkolleg at all.

This is the step that decides your timeline. Ahmed went through Studienkolleg Ägypten with a Sawiris Foundation scholarship before starting at RWTH Aachen, so his path to a German degree began a full year before his first semester.

How you actually apply

There is no Common App and no UCAS. Where your application goes depends on your nationality, your school qualification and your subject, and there are three possible destinations.

uni-assist, for most international applicants at most universities. You apply through its My assist portal, it checks and evaluates your documents, and after a positive evaluation it forwards your application to the university electronically. It charges €75 for your first course choice and €30 for each additional choice in the same semester, and those fees are for the evaluation work, so you pay them whatever the outcome. Note that not every German university uses uni-assist, so check yours first.

Directly to the university, where the university runs its own international admissions. Some universities in this group still want a VPD from uni-assist, a preliminary review certificate you then submit yourself with the direct application.

The Stiftung für Hochschulzulassung, if you want one of the subjects restricted nationwide: medicine, pharmacy, veterinary medicine or dentistry. These do not go through the university at all.

The deadlines

German universities take two intakes a year, and the dates barely move.

Master's courses, Studienkollegs and private universities often set earlier deadlines than these, so treat 15 July as the latest possible date rather than the date to aim for. Rejections usually arrive a little after the acceptances.

What NC means on a course page

You will see courses labelled restricted or unrestricted. Numerus clausus (NC) means there are more applicants than places, so a grade threshold decides. It comes in two forms: nationwide restriction, which applies to the four medical subjects above, and local restriction, set by an individual university for an individual course. An unrestricted course admits everyone who meets the entry requirements, which is a meaningful advantage of the German system when your grades are good but not exceptional.

If you studied in China, India or Vietnam

You need one extra document before any of this works. Applicants holding a Chinese, Indian or Vietnamese school or university qualification must obtain a certificate from the Akademische Prüfstelle (APS), which verifies your academic documents. It is normally required for the student visa as well as the application, and APS India has only existed since 2022, so older guides written for other countries will not mention it.

Start this early. It is a separate process with its own queue, and nothing else can proceed without it.

Money you can apply for

Since tuition is mostly zero, German scholarships fund living costs rather than fees.

The Deutschlandstipendium is the one most undergraduates miss. It pays €300 a month for at least two semesters and potentially to the end of your standard study period. Nationality is not a criterion, and students of all nationalities enrolled at a state or state-approved university can apply if their university takes part. Selection weighs academic achievement alongside social commitment and personal circumstances, including obstacles you have overcome. You apply through your university, not centrally.

DAAD runs the largest scholarship database in the country, including the Development-Related Postgraduate Courses (EPOS) programme for students from developing countries. Note that DAAD does not pay tuition fees for its scholarship holders, which matters if you end up in Baden-Württemberg.

Country-specific foundations are worth more attention than the famous names. Ahmed's funding came through an Egyptian foundation tied to a Studienkolleg, not through a German university.

Working during your degree, and after it

Germany is more generous here than most study destinations, and this is a large part of why students choose it.

While you study, international students from non-EU countries may work 140 full days or 280 half days a year, or up to 20 hours a week.

After you graduate, you can get a residence permit for up to 18 months to look for a job, provided you can show your living costs are covered, and you may work during that period.

Eighteen months is the detail to weigh against a cheaper degree elsewhere. It is long enough to find a graduate job in a large economy, which is why the total cost of a German degree often looks nothing like the sticker price of any other country.

Start your own journey

Germany rewards students who start early and punishes the ones who apply in the final year. Work in this order.

First, check your certificate. Look your country up in DAAD's admission database. If you need a Studienkolleg, that is an extra year, and everything else shifts behind it.

Second, decide on the language. If you want a bachelor's in English, you are choosing from 237 programmes, so build the list now. If you are willing to study in German, start the language work immediately, because B2 takes longer than anyone expects.

Third, work out where your application goes. uni-assist for most, directly to the university for some, the Stiftung für Hochschulzulassung if you want medicine or dentistry. Add the APS certificate to the front of that queue if you studied in China, India or Vietnam.

Fourth, do the visa arithmetic. €11,904 in a blocked account, plus the setup fee, plus €1,500 a semester if the university you love happens to be in Baden-Württemberg.

Fifth, apply for the Deutschlandstipendium once you are enrolled. €300 a month, nationality irrelevant, and most international students never hear about it.

Kai, the Borderless AI college counselor, checks whether your school certificate qualifies you, finds the English-taught programmes in your subject, and keeps the visa and scholarship deadlines in one place. It's free to use.

Start with Kai, and read the stories from students who did it.