TU Students Will Receive the Germany Semester Ticket
- TU News
The General Students’ Committee (Allgemeiner Studierendenausschuss, AStA) and the Student Parliament have jointly decided to use the offer of the Germany Semester Ticket for the students of TU Dortmund University. The discounted Germany Ticket can be used nationwide in local transport from the summer semester 2024. It is included in the semester fee.
The semester ticket will become cheaper from the summer semester 2024 onwards. The price of the new Germany Semester Ticket is set to be 60 percent of the regular Germany Ticket. This cost is significantly lower than the previous North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) Semester Ticket. The contribution for the semester ticket will decrease in the summer semester 2024 from currently 220.02 euros to 176.40 euros. This results in an overall lower semester fee of 298.58 euros, which includes, among other things, a social contribution of 110 euros to the Association for Student Affairs (Studierendenwerk).
With the new semester ticket, not only the public local transport in NRW but also throughout Germany can be used. However, in accordance with the tariff regulations of the Germany Ticket, the previous regulations regarding the transportation of bicycles and additional passengers no longer apply.
Ticket refund still possible
The regulation that all students with a free travel entitlement (e.g., due to a disability) can have the contribution of the Germany Semester Ticket refunded remains in place. Students who are studying abroad for a semester or who deregister during the semester can also have the costs refunded on a pro-rata basis.
Corresponding applications for the winter semester 2023/24 can still be submitted to the AStA until 15 March. Due to the switch to the Germany Semester Ticket, refund applications for stays abroad starting from the summer semester 2024 must be submitted within the first four weeks of the semester. The AStA provides further information on ticket refund on its homepage.
Negotiations in advance
The agreement on the new Germany Semester Ticket was preceded by many discussions and negotiations of the AStA with the AStAs of other universities, politicians, and the Transport Association Rhine-Ruhr (Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr, VRR). Since the price difference between the previous semester ticket and the Germany Ticket was too small, it would no longer have been sustainable as a solidarity model. This was confirmed by a legal opinion commissioned by the AStA of TU Dortmund University. To exert pressure, the AStA had terminated the existing semester ticket contracts with the VRR for the winter semester 2024/25.