Cost of Studying in Austria (2027) for International Students

Austria runs a two-semester public university system with a nationally set non-EU tuition fee and a large share of English-taught master's programmes. Vienna, Graz, Innsbruck and Linz host the largest student populations, and admission for non-EU applicants turns on whether a prior qualification gives access to higher education in the country where it was awarded.

Verified 7 Sep 2026 Sources

Public universities charge a nationally set tuition fee of EUR 726.72 per semester to non-EU and non-EEA students holding a student residence permit, from their first semester (source: Austrian Federal Ministry responsible for science and research, and confirmed on individual university fee pages). EU, EEA and Swiss citizens pay no tuition within the standard programme duration plus two tolerance semesters, then EUR 363.36 a semester. Citizens of the OECD's least developed countries list are exempt from tuition entirely. Every student also pays the students' union (ÖH) fee each semester regardless of nationality or any tuition waiver; it is EUR 26.20 for winter semester 2026/27 and adjusts most semesters under a fixed indexation rule tied to the 2010 consumer price index. Universities of applied sciences and private universities set their own fees separately from this national rate. Living costs are not centrally published as a single official average; the government's own minimum means-of-subsistence requirement for the student residence permit, which every non-EU applicant must show, is EUR 722.58 a month for applicants under 24 and EUR 1,308.39 a month for applicants 24 and over, effective from 1 January 2026. Actual rent, food, insurance and transport costs vary by city, with Vienna at the higher end.