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Leave of Absence (Beurlaubung)

If important reasons prevent you from attending your courses, you should apply for a leave of absence. This application must be submitted to the Office of Student Affairs. A leave of absence must be requested during the re-registration period. It is only valid for the duration of one semester. The application must be accompanied by appropriate proof for the reason of your request. When applying for a leave of absence after the re-registration period (January 15 to February 15 or June 15 to July 15), a reason for the late application must also be submitted.

Please note:

  • We kindly ask you to apply for a leave of absence prior to the payment of your semester fees and to clarify the exact amount of your fees.
  • If no decision on the application has been made by the end of the re-registration period, payment of the semester fee will initially be required in order to prevent de-registration for official reasons due to a lack of re-registration.
  • BAföG-recipients must notify the German Financial Aid Offic (BAföG-Amt) that they are on a leave of absence for the upcoming semester, and they must provide this notification before the leave of absence begins. Funding is typically not provided for a semester of leave. The German Financial Aid Offic (BAföG-Amt) has information about exceptions.

Advice:

  • Upon applying for a leave of absence you can decide whether you would like to use the semester ticket or not.
  • Under certain circumstances you may be exempted from the student service fee (see table below).
  • The submission of the application is done via your PULS-Account (Submit Applications / Documents Upload).
  • Additional information regarding a “Leave of Absence for Study Abroad” can be found on the pages "Study and Internships Abroad".
  • It is only possible to take a semester of leave outside of the re-registration periods in specific, justified cases, if the applicant can demonstrate that he or she was unable to submit an application at an earlier time, and that there is a reason for taking a leave of absence for the entire semester.
  • A leave of absence is not allowed if a student has already participated in a process related to performance evaluation, or if more than eight weeks of the lecture period have elapsed.
FEES FOR A LEAVE OF ABSENCE FOR WINTER SEMESTER 2023/24
 with
exemption from the student service fee
without
Semester Ticket
with
exemption from the student service fee
with
Semester Ticket
without
exemption from the student service fee
without
Semester Ticket
without
exemption from the student service fee
with
Semester Ticket
Leave of absence because of:    
sickness€0.00€200.00€50.00€250.00
internship**€116.00€316.00
study abroad
internship abroad
€51.00€251.00€101.00€301.00
volunteer service€0.00€200.00

€50.00

€250.00
pregnancy**€50.00€250.00
parental leave**€65.00€265.00
nursing care of close relatives**€65.00€265.00
other reasons**€116.00€316.00

* For this reason it is not possible to be exempted from the student service fee. For further information please contact Student Services Organisation.

Missing the deadline for payment of the fee for leave of absence (re-registration) will result in an additional administrative fee, which is currently € 10.00.
(The administrative fee for late payment for leave of absense (re-registration) will be applied after the expiration of the regular re-registration period, with the sum entered in the personal transfer order template (sample)).