Starting in the winter semester 2023/24, the new contribution regulations of the Studierendenwerk Stuttgart will apply. There will be changes to the solidarity contribution for local public transport and to the Studierendenwerk fee from the winter semester 2024/25. We explain the background here:
From the winter semester 2023/24 - StudiTicket will be discontinued, contributions to VVS and vgf will no longer apply:
In the summer semester of 2023, new ticket offers for public transportation will be introduced from which students can benefit - for example, the Deutschlandticket and the statewide youth ticket or JugendTicketBW. The current StudiTicket will therefore expire in the winter semester of 2023/24. A negotiating committee of the SWS administrative board, consisting of representatives of the students, the universities and the student union, reached an agreement with the VVS and the vgf.
The solidarity contribution of 48.20 euros to the VVS will no longer apply from the winter semester 2023/24. Students of the DHBW at the Horb campus will no longer have to pay 14.50 euros to the vgf. From the winter semester 2023/24, the Studierendenwerk fee will be 86.50 euros for all students.
From the winter semester 2024/25 - contribution increase by 10 euros:
In the winter semester 2024/2025, i.e. in three semesters, the student union fee will be raised by 10 euros - from 86.50 euros to 96.50 euros in the future. We explain here why this measure is necessary:
The private housing market in the greater Stuttgart area remains tight, and rents are comparatively expensive. In contrast, students can live inexpensively and close to the university in our dormitories. This is particularly noticeable at the beginning of the fall semester, when the waiting list is long. We are not able to offer a room to all applicants by the desired move-in date. It is therefore urgently necessary that we, as the Studierendenwerk, secure and further expand affordable housing. On the one hand, we need to maintain existing student dormitories - for example, through renovation measures. On the other hand, we must and want to create additional living space for students.
New construction projects are currently being planned, but we are facing enormous financial challenges: Construction costs per dormitory place have doubled in the past ten years to more than 100,000 euros per bed place. In addition, the construction of student housing complexes is only possible with external financing - within a year, construction financing interest rates have multiplied. At the same time, KfW funding collapsed last year - as a result, we receive significantly less financial support from the federal government. On the other hand, the amount of funding we receive from the Ministry of Science as a Studierendenwerk has remained unchanged. The subsidy of 8,000 euros per bed space is far too low given today's construction costs. Factors that make construction financing - and thus the creation of additional living space - immensely difficult. We can thus no longer guarantee favorable rents in our new construction projects for students.
The increase in contributions for the winter semester 2024/25 is therefore linked to the requirement that the funds be used for construction and renovation measures in the area of student housing. This was determined at the Board of Directors meeting in March 2023.
You can find more information - such as how your semester fee is made up so far and why the Studierendenwerk fee is so important - here on our website.