exemption from and refund of the ticket

Last modified on 1. August 2022

Exemption from the semester ticket

In special cases, you can be exempt from the ticket. Exempt students won’t receive a semester ticket and don’t have to pay the ticket fees.
Applications for exemption from the ticket must be directed at the enrollment office of HU.

The following people are entitled to exemption from the semester ticket (please note that this is the attempt of a proper translation of the relevant legal passages. However, it’s only laypersonly done and not legally binding):

  • Students with a “severely disabled person’s pass” and entitlement to transportation according to chapter 13 of the ninth “Sozialgesetzbuch” (that’s all students who might aquire a value stamp with their “severely disabled people’s pass”) can be exempt from the ticket indefinitely, but not longer than the validity of their proofs.
    For this, they have to send an informal application once to the enrollment office, in addition to copy of both sides of their “severely disabled person’s pass”.
  • Students than can show a doctor’s note which states that they can’t use public transportation due to a disability or illness may be exempt from the semester ticket. They can apply for exemption at the enrollment office for the time covered by the doctor’s note. The same goes for temporary disabilities that exclude use of public transportation for a certain period of time.
  • Students who are on vacation semester can be exempt for that time.
    This is only possible if the application for a vacation semester is not submitted during the semester and granted retrospectively. In case of a retrospectively granted leave due to an illness/disease, a refund for full months in which the ticket can’t be used is possible.
    When applying for a vacation semester at the enrollment office, you can note on the form of you’d like to receive the semester ticket during that semester or not.
  • Students who are on an internship semester, spend a semester abroad or work on their final thesis and therefore stay outside of the area of the semester ticket for at least 4 consecutive months of the relevant semester can apply for exemption from the semester ticket. This can be done at the enrollment office.
  • Students who are enrolled for additional, postgraduate or supplementary studies or for part time studies, as well as PhD students can be exempt from the semester ticket by applying at the enrollment office.
  • Students that have a company ticket can apply for exemption from the semester ticket by applying at the enrollment office.

Refund of proportionate semester ticket fees

Students who can proof that they’ve been enrolled more than a month after the semester started, who are exmatriculated during the semester, who take back their enrollment, who are retrospectively granted a leave or who can proof that they became sick during the semester to such a degree that they would be entitled to a vacation semester can get a refund for full months in which the ticket can’t be used.
The relevant point in time for the refund is determined by giving back or the invalidation of the ticket. A retrospective exmatriculation does not constitute an entitlement to a retrospective refund of semester ticket fees. Same goes for retrospectively granted leaves.