Leave of absence

A leave of absence is only permitted for full semesters and, as a rule, only for a maximum of two consecutive semesters. As a rule, students may not be granted a leave of absence for more than four semesters during the course of a degree programme.

A leave of absence is not permitted:

• before commencing the degree programme
• for the first semester
• for previous semesters

Students can be granted leave of absence upon written application if an important reason is proven.

Reasons are for example

• Health reasons
• Pregnancy/maternity leave
• Caring for a child during periods in which you would be entitled to parental leave if you were employed
• Study abroad, unless part of the degree programme
• Completion of a voluntary internship that is not part of the degree programme
• Activity in academic or student self-administration
• Employment, e.g. to finance further studies

During a leave of absence, you are not authorised to perform any work. This means that you are not allowed to attend courses, complete coursework or take examinations.

The Bachelor's or Master's thesis may also not be registered in the semester in which you wish to take a leave of absence and may not be registered until the following semester at the earliest.

Please note!

For the period of your leave of absence, you are neither entitled to BAföG nor, as a rule, to child benefit (please clarify this directly with the family benefits office) and may have to reimburse benefits.

Before applying for the semester of leave, please check carefully whether a leave of absence is an option for you, also due to a possible partial reimbursement of BAföG or child benefit payments already made, as it is not possible to withdraw the application due to various legal provisions.

Please note that the semester fee must also be paid in the event of a leave of absence and that the re-registration deadline must therefore be met.

The administrative fee (amounting to € 75.00) will be waived. If you are already paying long-term tuition fees, these will also be waived during a leave of absence. The other fees remain due.

If you are already re-registered at the time of application, you can submit an application for a refund of the administrative fee (and, if applicable, the long-term tuition fee) after your leave of absence has been approved. You can find the required form on our Reimbursement of fees page.

Student Union Fee:

Once you have re-registered and your leave of absence has been approved, you can find out from the Studentenwerk whether a waiver of the Studentenwerk fee is possible in your case.

You can find out more about the refund options for the student union fee directly from the student union. You can find the application form and contact details on our Reimbursement of fees page.

Germany semester ticket:

You may also be able to be exempted from the Deutschlandsemester-Ticket if you do not need it. You can find information on the exemption from the Deutschlandsemester-Ticket on the AStA (external link, opens in a new window) website.

If you are not exempt, you can continue to use the Deutschlandsemester-Ticket.