What TUM actually costs an international student

TUM introduced tuition for students from third countries, meaning outside the EU and the European Economic Area, from the winter semester 2024/25. Per TUM’s own tuition page, checked 27 July 2026:

Note the word "usually" in TUM’s own wording. The amount is set per programme, so two Master’s programmes at the same university can differ by 2,000 EUR a semester. Do not budget from a range. Open the specific programme page on tum.de and read its number.

This matters more than it sounds. Over a two-year Master’s, the difference between the 4,000 and the 6,000 band is 8,000 EUR. That is not a rounding error, and it is decided by which programme you apply to.

Tuition is not the only compulsory payment. Every enrolled student pays the student union fee each semester, and TUM states plainly that it must be paid in addition to the tuition fees.

Per TUM’s study fees page, checked 27 July 2026, the student union fee for summer semester 2026 is:

By German standards that is low. Across the 2,655 Master’s programmes in our catalogue the median semester contribution is 300 EUR, and the middle half sits between about 104 and 379 EUR. TUM’s 97 EUR is at the bottom end, because Bavaria’s student union fees do not include the semester transport ticket that inflates the figure at many other universities.

There is also an application fee. Our catalogue records 75 EUR for 70 of TUM’s 101 Master’s programmes, with 30 charging nothing. That is paid once per application, before you know whether you have a place.

The tuition applies to third-country nationals in bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes. Per TUM’s tuition page, checked 27 July 2026, you are not required to pay if any of these apply:

• You are from an EU or EEA country, or an equivalent state
• You were already enrolled at TUM before winter semester 2024/25 in the same programme
• You are pursuing a doctoral degree
• You are on an exchange programme, visiting student status, or enrolled in a Studienkolleg
• You are in a state examination programme or a non-degree programme
• You obtained your higher education entrance qualification within the German education system
• You have an established domestic connection under Section 8 of the BAföG

Two of these are worth reading twice. Doctoral students do not pay. If your plan is research, a PhD in Germany is a different financial situation entirely, and it is often funded. And the exemption for students already enrolled before winter 2024/25 does not transfer between programmes, so switching programme can start the fee.

Reductions and the study grant

TUM also runs waivers and a scholarship for international students. Per its scholarships and waivers page, checked 27 July 2026, recipients of the TUM scholarship for international students receive a one-time grant of between 500 and 1,800 EUR per semester and may reapply each semester.

The separate tuition waiver is not a merit award, which is the part people get wrong. TUM lists the grounds as caring for your own children or dependent family members where that puts your degree at risk, special personal or social circumstances such as displacement by war or financial hardship from unforeseen events, a documented disability that significantly affects your studies, active asylum seeker status from countries with a protection rate above 50%, and leave of absence. Good grades are not on that list.

So read the conditions before you count on either. A grant that reduces a 6,000 EUR semester fee by 1,800 EUR still leaves 4,200 EUR to find.

Tuition is only part of what leaving India for Munich costs. Here is the arithmetic, using only the figures cited on this page.

The living cost line is not a guess. Per the German Missions in India student visa checklist, last updated September 2024 and checked 27 July 2026, you must show funds for your first year of study, currently 11,904 EUR, with confirmation that no more than 992 EUR per month can be withdrawn. Munich is one of Germany’s most expensive cities, so treat that as the visa minimum rather than a realistic budget. Our cost of living estimator and blocked account calculator work out your own figure.

What our catalogue shows about TUM

From our own data on active, published Master’s programmes, queried 27 July 2026:

• 101 Master’s programmes at TUM Munich, plus one at TUM Asia in Singapore.
• 66 are taught in English, 20 in German, 8 bilingual and 7 in either language.
• 91 of the 101 close on 31 May for the winter intake, which is six weeks earlier than the 15 July date most applicants have in mind. Miss it and you wait.
• 42 also take a summer intake, most of them closing on 30 November.
• 41 require an APS certificate at the point of application, which is the step Indian applicants should start first.
• 38 have restricted admission, where places are limited and applicants are compared against each other.
• 13 of the 101 are recorded in our catalogue as charging no tuition. Where our record and TUM’s own fee page disagree, TUM’s page is the one that decides, so confirm on the programme page before you budget.

Browse them all on the TUM university page.

Is TUM worth paying for when 1,694 programmes are free

This is the real question and it deserves a straight answer. 1,694 of the 2,655 Master’s programmes in our catalogue charge no tuition at all, and every one of those is at a public university. TUM is a public university that chose to charge non-EU students. So paying 8,000 to 12,000 EUR a year is a decision, not an unavoidable cost of studying in Germany.

It can be the right decision. TUM is one of the strongest technical universities in Europe, it sits in a city with a dense industrial and technology employer base, and the 18-month post-study job search permit is the same wherever you graduate from. What it is not is the only route, and anyone telling you that a paid programme at a ranked university is required to work in Germany is selling something. Compare against the free options in our course catalogue before you commit.

Where these figures come from

All fee figures are quoted from TUM’s own pages and were checked on 27 July 2026. Fees are set per programme and change between semesters, so the programme page on tum.de is always the final word. Programme counts, deadlines and application fees come from our own catalogue of active, published Master’s programmes, queried the same day.