What a year in Vienna costs

The VWU (Vorstudienlehrgang) is the preparatory division of Vienna's universities, where you sit extra entrance exams before you can enrol. A month of student life in a dorm costs €869.61 to €1,075.44 at the VWU itself, and €1,104.27 to €1,310.10 at one of its three partner schools, which teach the same German course. The first year, visa fee included, comes to roughly €10,650 to €13,120 at the VWU and €13,470 to €15,940 at a partner, exams on top. Three large sums are due right at the start: the money in your account for the visa, the dorm deposit, and the semester fee.

Where you'll study

If you hold a German C1 certificate and your school already covered everything your degree requires, the university enrols you straight away and you don't need the preparatory course. For everyone else, a set of rules decides where you go — you don't get to choose:^1·2

• Only German is required: you study at one of the three partners, and you choose which one.^2·3
• German plus other subjects: the VWU takes only the top scorers on onSET, the German placement test — the same selection logic as an entrance exam. Everyone else learns German at a partner.²
• German isn't required at all: you study at the VWU.³

A semester at a partner costs roughly three times as much, and two of the three partners, die Berater and ZIB Training, don't let you pay it in instalments. The full breakdown of who goes where is in the article on the VWU and its partners. The box below toggles between both prices so you can see the difference, and you'll know your own row from the rules above.^4·5

What makes up a month

• Dorm. The cheapest bed costs €289: a spot in a two-person room in a shared flat at Home4Students, one of the dorm operators. Beds like that go first, so the budget uses the middle of the range: at half of all dorms, the cheapest room costs no more than €462, and at three-quarters, no more than €598. These are each building's starting prices, and places for autumn run out early. Without a dorm, a room in a flat costs more — more on that below — and where to look for housing is covered in the article on housing.⁶
• Food. Groceries, plus the odd cafeteria or café visit. Austria's 2023 student survey found that students under 20 spend €195 a month on food on average, and all students combined €257. These are 2023 prices.⁷
• Phone. The cheapest plan, from mobile operator spusu, costs €2.90 a month for 1 GB. A1 and Magenta plans with more data cost €9.90 every four weeks, about €11 a month.^8–10
• Transport pass. The annual youth pass, Jahreskarte Jugend, for anyone under 26, costs €294 in the app or €300 on a card; the semester ticket no longer exists as of 1 February 2026. Anyone 26 or older pays €461 in the app for the ordinary annual card, roughly €14 a month more.^11·12
• Insurance. Student insurance with ÖGK, Austria's state health fund, costs €78.84 a month. Preparatory-course students take it out after registering their address and enrolling.¹³
• Course. The fee for two semesters and the ÖH student union contribution — plus textbooks at a partner — are spread across the budget's 12 months.

The budget counts 12 months of living in Vienna. If you go home for the summer, check your dorm contract to see whether you're still paying for those months.

Large payments, and when they're due

The monthly budget already spreads the course fee and the transport pass across the year, but you pay both upfront. The deposit and exams aren't in the budget at all. The money in your bank account, on the other hand, is counted in full: it's your own living money, saved up in advance.

• Before you apply for the visa. Money in your account for twelve months ahead: under 24, that's more than €8,670.96. You show it when you apply, and then you actually live on it. The residence permit calculator works out the exact figure for your rent.¹⁴
• When you apply for the visa. The application fee, €218, and travel insurance for entry.^14·15
• When you move in. The deposit: at STUWO, another dorm operator, it's €750 or up to two months' rent; at Home4Students it's two months' rent plus a €100 processing fee. Deposits at other operators are collected in the housing article.^16·17
• Before each semester. The course fee with the ÖH contribution: €638.20 at the VWU itself and €2,046.20 at a partner, textbooks included.¹⁸
• At the start of the year. The annual transport pass, €294 in the app.¹¹
• Before each exam. An attempt costs €66 for German, English and mathematics, and €46 for history, geography, biology, physics and chemistry.²

Which exams you've been assigned is stated in the university's admission decision.

What's not in the monthly budget

Home internet isn't in the budget: check the building's page to see whether it's included in the dorm fee. In a rented flat, internet costs from €29.90 a month with Magenta and from €32.90 with A1, on a 24-month contract.^19·20

The ORF fee, for Austria's public TV and radio, costs €15.30 a month. Dorm residents don't pay it if the building has filed an exemption on their behalf, so ask about that when you move in — in a rented flat, you pay it.^21·22

No dorm: a room in a shared flat

There's no reliable statistic for what a room costs on a new lease. The listings site WG-Gesucht says a room in a shared flat usually costs €450 to €700. Vienna's average rent across all existing leases is €10.6 per square metre including operating costs, but that average includes municipal flats and long-standing leases, so a new flat costs more. If you're not in a dorm, budget for more than the figures above, and keep in mind that a higher rent also raises the sum you need in your account for the visa.^14·23·24

Miss a deadline: an extra semester

Fail to pass your last exam in time, and that's another semester fee plus another half-year of living in Vienna — by the budget above, €5,220 to €7,860. So before you register for the exam, sit a full past paper against the clock. The archives are open with no registration: mathematics, EPM, and German, EPD, each task with a worked answer. How retakes eat into your semesters is covered in the article on retakes.

Sources

· 24 checked 25.09.2026

1. 1Nachweis der Deutschkenntnisse — Universität Wien · checked 20.09.2026
2. 2FAQ — Vorstudienlehrgang der Wiener Universitäten · checked 20.09.2026
3. 3Erstanmeldung — Vorstudienlehrgang der Wiener Universitäten · checked 20.09.2026
4. 4Ergänzende Geschäftsbedingungen Deutschkurse für den VWU (Stand: Juni 2026) — die Berater · checked 25.09.2026
5. 5AGB, VWU-Kurse der ZIB Training GmbH (Stand: August 2026) — German for Vienna · checked 25.09.2026
6. 6Studentenheim Erlachplatz — Home4students · checked 25.09.2026
7. 7Studierenden-Sozialerhebung 2023 — Kernbericht (IHS) · checked 25.09.2026
8. 8spusu 1 GB — spusu · checked 25.09.2026
9. 9Wertkartentarife — B.free Tarife, A1 · checked 25.09.2026
10. 10KLAX Wertkarte — Magenta · checked 25.09.2026
11. 11Jahreskarte — Wiener Linien (Snapshot 2026-08-30, живой сайт отдаёт Radware) · checked 25.09.2026
12. 12Tickets für Studierende — Wiener Linien (Snapshot 2026-05-19, живой сайт отдаёт Radware) · checked 25.09.2026
13. 13Selbstversicherung für Studierende — Österreichische Gesundheitskasse · checked 23.09.2026
14. 14Aufenthaltsbewilligung Student (kein Mobilitätsprogramm) — OeAD · checked 20.09.2026
15. 15Aufenthalt — Österreichische Botschaft Moskau · checked 24.09.2026
16. 16FAQ — STUWO Studentenheime · checked 25.09.2026
17. 17Anmeldetipps — Home4Students · checked 25.09.2026
18. 18Deutschkurse für den VWU — Sprachenzentrum der Universität Wien · checked 20.09.2026
19. 19Internet für Zuhause — Magenta · checked 25.09.2026
20. 20Internet für zuhause und unterwegs — A1 · checked 25.09.2026
21. 21Beitrag & Zahlung — ORF-Beitrags Service (OBS) · checked 25.09.2026
22. 22FAQ Registrierung — ORF-Beitrags Service (OBS) · checked 25.09.2026
23. 23Flatshare to rent in Wien — WG-Gesucht · checked 25.09.2026
24. 24Wohnen 2025 — Zahlen, Daten und Indikatoren der Wohnstatistik, Statistik Austria · checked 20.09.2026