Student life in Berlin

Wow, that is a bold plan!
I think anything less than EUR10/day for food and daily expenses is unrealistic (don't forget: you do need toothpaste, shampoo, new clothes and books for your studies occasionally).
It is very unlikely that you find a room for less than EUR300/month - unless you manage to get into a (subsidized) student hostel.
There will be no travel possible on such a budget, given that a simple two day excursion to a nearby town will cost you at least EUR150 (one way train fare EUR20, accommodation EUR40, food EUR20/day, entrance fees etc. EUR20).
Unless you are from the EU, you will have to show financial means of at least EUR900/month to get a visa - and that is REALLY the minimum of what you need!

I haven't spent much time in Berlin recently but I have to agree with Beppi that your budget does not sound so realistic. Berlin used to be a city with lots of very basic, cheap accommodation but those times are over. As far as travel, one can book train tickets well in advance and often save up to 70%. And if one day-trips then they need no hotel. And students often go on trips as part of a group, club or organization that makes cheap arrangements.

But finding accommodation for that price is not likely. The only chance you have of getting anywhere even close to that price is to find a small room in a shared apartment, something common for students. But even if you get quoted such a cheap price for a room the question is if it included utilities and other costs. And while one can make a generalization that living in small community far away from a big city is cheaper, this is not practical because of the time and cost of commuting. To maybe save some money on rent you would have to look at places that are well over an hour, maybe 2 hours distance. If one could save a lot by just living a bit outside of the center then everyone would do it and then drive up the price.  And this is in fact the situation.

The current visa requirements for non-EU foreign students to prove financial resources of at least 8800,- Euros a year or 733,- Euros/month are not just to make things difficult. They are a realistic assumption of the cost for basic, cheap survival. And while the cost of 900/month mentioned by Beppi is not a legal requirement it is probably a more realistic figure to actually live from. A much more realistic scenario is to borrow some money from relatives or wherever you can find it. A couple of thousand Euros per year for maybe a couple of years is a good investment if one comes out with an advanced degree. Assuming one later has a good job, it is not such a big thing to pay back if the extra money means living without struggling to save every cent.

I am posting a link to the page of the German Academic Exchange Service site that details the finacial requirements and needs.

https://www.daad.de/deutschland/nach-de … financing/

Thank you for being honest, guys.

I will give my best to find somewhere those couple of thousands per year and make my life easier. Even if I do, I will still have to look for cheaper neighborhoods (regarding the rent). Any suggestions?

Sorry, I thought the legal requirement to get a visa is EUR900/month - but Tom is of course right that it is EUR733/month.

sevast wrote:

Thank you for being honest, guys.

I will give my best to find somewhere those couple of thousands per year and make my life easier. Even if I do, I will still have to look for cheaper neighborhoods (regarding the rent). Any suggestions?

I think you might be going about it wrong to think you need to look for specific neighborhoods. On your kind of a budget you will not find your own apartment anyway – no way. Look at the pinboards at the University advertising available rooms in shared apartments (known as Wohngemeinschafts or WGs). In the end, these possibilities will inevitably be in the less expensive rather than most expensive neighborhoods. If the price is right, then it is irrelevant if a neighborhood would be expensive, more important is if you find the room, apartment, fellow flat-mates and neighborhood acceptable - and if the location is either close to where you will spend most of your time or well connected by public transportation.

I was looking for cheap accomodation for a long time, and never found an offer below 350EUR. Of course I assume that we are talking about comfortable place for a living not a garage

We are talking about a small furnished room. Of course, basic stuff (electricity, water, WC, at least some sort of a kitchen) is expected. I am certainly not looking for a garage, but I don't expect much of a comfort either (as I am on a very tight budget).

I found this FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wg.wohnung.berlin/
It is very popular - has almost 150 000 members. There I saw some rooms for less than 350 EUR, even for less than 300 EUR all-inclusive. But those offers were for max 6 months. However, I will have to be super lucky in order to get one of these. All in all, I guess it's simply not realistic to find something for less than 350.

sevast wrote:

We are talking about a small furnished room. Of course, basic stuff (electricity, water, WC, at least some sort of a kitchen) is expected. I am certainly not looking for a garage, but I don't expect much of a comfort either (as I am on a very tight budget).

I found this FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wg.wohnung.berlin/
It is very popular - has almost 150 000 members. There I saw some rooms for less than 350 EUR, even for less than 300 EUR all-inclusive. But those offers were for max 6 months. However, I will have to be super lucky in order to get one of these. All in all, I guess it's simply not realistic to find something for less than 350.

Sure, one can sometimes get a special price on a sublet for a fixed time but less than 350/month including utilities is not so realistic. But your budget of 150 Euros for food comes out to 5 Euros a day - also not realistic even if one cooks themselves. A tip is that most universities have a student cafeteria (Mensa) that serves a cheap hot meal for lunch and possibly dinner. Even so, you will undoubtedly spend more for food, easily double what you have planned.

Many universities in Berlin and Germany have a page about monthly expenses. Most of them (even those in Berlin) say that 150-180 EUR should be enough for food. That's why I said 150 in my original post.

Hello again! A short update: I managed to get a scholarship and I am definitely coming to Berlin in October. My monthly budget will be 850 euros. Health insurance and the so-called Semesterticket will also be provided, so I don't have to pay for that. Besides that, I will most likely get a rent subsidy (additional 100 or 150 euros), but it's not 100% sure.

Anyway, I just wanted to ask you guys about the rent prices in Berlin right now. I heard that they are going up very fast. Some friends even suggested me to plan at least 500 euros for a furnished WG room. Do you have any advice on where to look (except traditional wg sites, I already know about them)?

Speaking of my preferred district, I was thinking about Wedding. It's relatively close to the city center and TU Berlin, it has some nice craft beer breweries, large parks and it has an international spirit. However, I got all this information from the internet and it would be great if you could share with me your opinion on this district.

Congratulations for your scholarship. It will make things so much easier than the financially hopeless situation you mentioned before. However, you must still realize that you are still at or near the official German poverty line and thus cannot  expect any luxuries like deciding in which district you want to live - you'll have to take the cheapest place you can find, wherever that may be. And forget about those craft beers, a glass of which would cost you nearly your daily budget for food and necessities!
You should get hold of the newest Berlin "Mietspiegel" (an official survey of rents). Prices are going up rapidly right now and places are rare, so expect a long and sometimes frustrating search (which you can only start after your arrival here, so you'll need temporary accomodation for the first weeks or months, too!).
Furnished places are even rarer and far more expensive, so consider getting an empty room in a shared flat (WG) and buy your own cheap furniture (Ikea or classified ads sites are great!).

Here's the thing with furnished WG rooms. They are more common than regular apartments fully furnished and also often cheaper. But since such places are not getting a lot more for the furnishings; why would they offer such a thing? The answer is either the room is being rented for a limited period of time by someone who will get the room back – and thus let a sub-renter use it rather than have to find a place to store it while they are gone for that semester or possibly 2. The main problem is if one wants to find a long term place and not be under pressure to repeatedly find a new place. But sometime one can't be choosy if they don't find what they want.  The other is that someone is leaving a room permanently and doesn't want the furniture anymore. Rather than advertise and have to sell it, they can try to rent out the room under the condition that the new person buys the furniture. This can be a way to get some basic furniture for cheap – or it can be a waste if you don't like the furniture and will want to replace it anyway. But like Beppi  mentioned; if you pay a lot extra per month for furnishings then it is usually better to find an unfurnished room and just buy used stuff or at a place like IKEA.