START RIGHT AWAY. NO PAPERWORK.

Comfort Start: With Comfort Start, you can begin immediately (from today) or choose your preferred starting date flexibly. At this point, you start your learning experience as an Auditor (Gasthörer:in) – without student status and without the option to take exams. You submit your documents in parallel. As soon as your documents have been fully reviewed and your university entrance qualification (HZB) is verified, you will become an officially enrolled student.  

Classic Start: With Classic Start, you select a starting date in the future—and can start in as little as 10 days. Your (certified) documents must be submitted fully and checked successfully before your studies can begin.

Comfort Start: You join as an Auditor (Gasthörer:in). This means you have instant access to your learning materials, but can’t take exams just yet. Once your documents are submitted and successfully checked, you get your official student status and can take exams. 

Classic Start: Since you only begin your studies once your documents are submitted and checked, with Classic Start you start day one as a full student and can immediately register for and take exams.

As a Auditor (Gasthörer:in), you pay the regular fees for your chosen degree programme (based on your study model). 

When you change to student status, the last regular invoices are reduced by the amount you paid as a guest student. Your total study costs stay the same.  

While you have Auditor (Gasthörer:in) status, traditional financial options such as Bafög, KfW student loans, etc. cannot yet be applied for. This becomes possible as soon as you gain full student status. If this type of financing is important to you, be sure to start with the Classic Start so you can access these options right away.  

After Comfort Start you can study as a guest student for up to 12 months—with the option to extend. 

As soon as you’ve submitted all your documents and they’ve been checked successfully - especially your university entrance qualification (HZB), you’ll receive full student status. 

Note: If you are unsure about your university entrance qualification (HZB), we recommend choosing the Classic Start.  

As an Auditor (Gasthörer:in), you can cancel on a monthly basis.

Comfort Start – flexible and convenient 

• You begin your learning experience straight away and submit your documents comfortably in parallel.

• You have access to all learning materials but no exam access and no official student status.

Ideal if:

• You want to start immediately.

• Not all your documents are available yet.

• You want to start learning while your enrolment is being processed. 

Classic Start – traditional and secure 

• Your documents (including HZB) must be fully reviewed in advance. From day one, you receive student status and have access to exams.

Suitable if you:

• Want to have all formalities sorted right from the start (for example, for BAföG, your employer, or other funding requirements)

• Want maximum certainty about your university entrance qualification (HZB).