Cost of tuition

Full-time students studying an English-taught curriculum must pay the tuition fee as a semester fee for the current semester when studying full-time. Part-time students pay the tuition fee on the basis of the credit point price or as a semester fee, depending on their preference.

Pre-payment for non-EU/EEA/Swiss applicants

Applicants who are not the citizens of the member states of the European Union, the European Economic Area or the Swiss Confederation and do not hold a long-term residence permit in any of these countries are required to pre-pay half of the first semester's tuition fee after they have been informed of their admission decision (i.e. have received an offer) via DreamApply. The invoice along with the pre-payment deadline will be sent to applicants via DreamApply in May or June. The second half of the first semester's tuition fee is to be paid by 20 September or, in the case of curricula starting in the spring semester, by 20 March.

NB! The official admission letter (necessary for a visa application) will only be issued once the University of Tartu has received the pre-payment.

If the applicant withdraws from studies before the due date of the pre-payment they are not required to pay the fee. If the applicant withdraws from studies after the pre-payment due date, the payment will not be reimbursed.

Tuition fee deadlines

EU/EEA/Swiss citizens are required to pay the fee for the first semester by 20 September for curricula starting in the autumn semester and 20 March for curricula starting in the spring semester (non-EU/EEA/Swiss citizens, please see above).

For the second semester the payment is due on 20 March. In the second year and thereafter, payments are due by 20 October in the autumn semester and 20 March in the spring semester.

Tuition fee contract

You will sign a tuition fee contract at the beginning of the semester and receive an invoice.The tuition fee contract needs to be concluded within two weeks of the student being matriculated.

Tuition fee contracts are prepared by the dean’s office of each faculty. In the case of colleges the central administrative offices are responsible for the contracts.

If you do not sign the tuition fee contract with two weeks of your matriculation, and do not submit an application for deletion from the university’s matriculation register, the university will charge the tuition fee on the basis of the credit point price and the number of credit points to be obtained for the courses for which the student has registered.

If first semester students cancel studies before 20 September, you are not required to pay the tuition fee. If first semester students cancel studies after the payment deadline (20 September), the tuition fee of the current semester must be paid. 

Payment when studying abroad 

Generally, you do not have to pay tuition fees at UT when studying abroad, although you do need to pay 30% of each credit point price that you transfer from abroad to UT. You do not have to pay 30% of the UT tuition fee if you had to pay a tuition fee at the foreign university.
If you study at UT during the period when you are registered as a study abroad student (that is - take courses both from UT and a higher education institution abroad) then, in addition to the fee to be paid for the courses completed abroad, you are required to pay for UT courses (full price of credit points).

  More information about studying abroad

Payment of the tuition fee upon extension of studies

Upon extension of studies, a student of an English-taught curriculum (without a tuition-waiver student place) will pay, based on student’s preference, the tuition fee as a semester fee, or on the basis of the number of registered credit points. The choice of the mode of payment must be submitted in writing along with the application for extension of studies.

  More information about extension of studies

Payment of the tuition fee during academic leave

Students studying a non-Estonian curriculum without a tuition-waiver student place will be required to pay their study expenses if academic leave starts after the due date. If academic leave ends before the due date, the tuition fee must be paid for the current semester, while no tuition fee is required for the current semester if academic leave ends after the due date. If the student participates in studies during academic leave, the tuition fee must be payed, whereas there is no need for additional payment, if academic leave starts after the due date, except when defending a graduation thesis or taking a final exam, when the student has not yet paid the semester fee for that semester.

  More information about academic leave

If you have a tuition-waiver student place for an English-taught curriculum, you do not have to pay the tuition fee if you complete the prescribed amount of the curriculum.

Tuition-waiver student place contract

You will sign a tuition-waiver student place contract at the beginning of the semester. Tuition-waiver student places are offered to the best applicants to most of the English-taught degree programmes and to all students admitted to Estonian-taught degree programmes. The tuition-waiver student place covers your tuition fee if you study full-time. 

The tuition-waiver student place contract needs to be concluded within two weeks of matriculation. The students will have the contracts sent to their e-mail address and the signed contracts, either digitally signed or signed on paper, need to taken back to the Office of Academic Affairs, main building room 134. If you do not sign the tuition-waiver student place contract by the required deadline, the university may cancel the tuition-waiver. The student will then be charged a tuition fee on the basis of the credit point price for the number of credits on the courses for which the student has registered. If the student has not paid the autumn semester fee by 20 October, the student will be deleted from the matriculation register.

When do I need to start paying?

You have to start paying the tuition fee only if you fail to meet the nominal study load. In general, a tuition-waiver student place can be maintained as long as the student fulfills full-time workload requirements, e.i. completes 75 % of 30/60 ECTS courses which equates to 22.5 ECTS per semester and 45 ECTS per academic year. Tuition-waiver student place have further conditions: students can study free of charge if they collect as many credits per semester as indicated in the table below. The semester workload is 30 ECTS and that of the academic year is 60 ECTS. The payment threshold is 6 ECTS: if you receive 24 ECTS by the end of the semester, you do not have to pay, however you need to receive 54 ECTS by the end of the second semester: credit points are calculated cumulatively per semester. If you get 20 ECTS by the end of semester, you have to pay for 4 ECTS on the basis of the invoice prepared at the beginning of the next semester. Information about credit point prices can be found here.

How many courses do I need to take to study free of charge? 

Minimum accumulative ECTS requirements from the student's curriculum to continue studying free of charge 

1st semester: 24 ECTS 
2nd semester: 54 ECTS 
3rd semester: 84 ECTS 
4th semester: 114 ECTS
5th semester: 144 ECTS 

Students can take more than 30 ECTS per semester; no fees are charged for extra courses. If you collect more than 30 credits per semester, this surplus allows you to have a semester in which you gain fewer credits.

From the academic year 2024/2025, the tuition fee for credits missed in previous semesters must be paid even if studies are interrupted before the due date.

Students admitted as of 2024/2025, who interrupt their studies on their own initiative more than 70 days after the beginning of the semester, must pay the tuition fee for the courses to which they have registered but have not completed. 
 

Tuition fee deadline

The deadlines for paying tuition fees are 20 October in the autumn semester and 20 March in the spring semester.  

Do I have to take courses only from my curriculum to study free of charge? 

In order to be able to study free of charge, students need to keep in mind that they are obliged to complete their curriculum (including a minor specialisation and optional courses to the maximum extent prescribed in the curriculum). Optional courses exceeding the volume of optional courses prescribed in the curriculum do not count towards the completed volume of study.

If a student takes many courses, some of which are taken from another curriculum, the students will need to pay for the missing credits from his or her curriculum, even if the extra courses give enough ECTS credits to fulfil the requirements. (The number of credit points collected cannot fall more than six credit points short of the compulsory number of credit points to be obtained, given in the table above.)

You can take more than 30 ECTS per semester; no fees are charged for extra courses. If you collect more than 30 credits per semester, this surplus allows you to have a semester in which you gain fewer credits.

What about courses transferred from previous studies with the help of RPL?

Students can have their previous studies recognised and transferred (according to UT regulations). Credit points obtained from previous studies and work experience also count towards the number of credit points obtained when calculating tuition fees.

Please remember that upon calculation of the tuition fee, the number of credit points to be obtained is calculated only on the basis of the courses of the curriculum (and the modules chosen in the curriculum) and optional courses to the maximum extent allowed by the curriculum.

Paying when studying abroad  

You do not have to pay tuition fees at UT for time spent studying abroad. But please note the following regarding returning from studies abroad:

• If you studied at a foreign university and were able to transfer at least 15 ECTS of courses to your UT curriculum, you get an extra semester (extension) to complete your studies. At the end of the semester following the semester of study abroad (that is at the end of the extension semester), the university will check study progress. If there are more than 6 credits missing from the required workload, you are expected to pay for all missing credits in excess of 6. If this situation applies to you, you will be invoiced at the beginning of the second semester following the semester of study abroad.
• If you studied for two semesters at a foreign university and could transfer at least 30 ECTS of courses to your UT curriculum (15 ECTS for each semester), you get two extra semesters (of extension) to complete your studies. At the end of the second semester following the semester of study abroad (that is, at the end of the second extension semester), the university will check study progress. If there are more than 6 credits missing from the required workload, you will need to pay for the missing credits in excess of 6. In the case of missing credits, you are invoiced at the beginning of the third semester following the semester of study abroad.

Thus, if it is not possible to use the courses completed at a foreign university to complete the UT curriculum to the required extent (15 ECTS or more), it will be necessary to complete more courses in the semester following the semester of study abroad in order to avoid the need to pay tuition fee in the following semesters.

Payment of the tuition fee upon the extension of studies

In the first extension semester students with a tuition-waiver student place on an English-taught curriculum will pay the tuition fee for each missing credit point short of the prescribed number of credit points under the curriculum.

Based on the student’s reasoned application, the vice dean for academic affairs or, in doctoral studies, the vice dean for research, may issue a directive to release the full-time student during the extension term in part or in full from paying the tuition fee for defending a graduation thesis or taking a final exam.

Payment of tuition fee during academic leave

Students with tuition-waiver student places must pay their study expenses if go on academic leave in the middle of a semester on the basis of the number of credit points by which they fall short of the number prescribed in the previous semester. If academic leave ends during the ongoing semester there is no obligation to pay tuition fee, if you have paid the fee for the semester spent studying before the start of academic leave. If the student is on academic leave for less than ten study weeks (less than 70 days) in a semester, the semester is considered to be a studied semester. In this case the tuition fee for that semester must be paid in the following semester if the study load was smaller than required.

Recommencement of studies

If you apply again to the University of Tartu via admission, it will not be possible to apply for a second tuition-waiver student place, or for an Estonian-taught curriculum, if

• you have been deleted from the matriculation register and are matriculated in the same curriculum within two years;
• you have studied at the same level of tertiary education on a tuition-waiver student place (or on an Estonian curriculum) and restrictions for studying tuition-free for the second or more time apply. 

All Estonian-taught degree programmes are free of charge for full-time students. These students will pay for their studies on the same grounds as recipients of tuition-waiver study places on English-taught curricula (see above). The University does not sign separate contracts with students on Estonian-taught programmes.

Part-time students pay the tuition fee for the current semester on the basis of the credit point price. The basis for calculating the tuition fee is the volume of courses for which the student registered at the beginning of the semester. A student who transfers from full-time to part-time study will pay the tuition fee in the current semester starting from the semester of transfer to part-time study on the basis of the credit point price. A contract for the compensation of study expenses will be concluded with the student within three weeks of transferring to part-time study.

A student who transfer from part-time to full-time study does not have to pay the tuition fee in the first semester of full-time study.

Faculty of Medicine

A student who is studying full-time in an Estonian-taught curriculum of bachelor’s and master’s integrated studies at the Faculty of Medicine is released from the obligation to pay the tuition fee during the nominal period of study of the curriculum.

Release from the tuition fee

On the basis of an application, a full-time or part-time student who has commenced full-time studies in an Estonian curriculum will be released from paying the tuition fee if he/she

• has a moderate, severe or profound disability (a valid document certifying the disability must be submitted) or decreased work capability (certificate of Eesti Töötukassa is needed), or
• is a parent or guardian of a child of up to seven years of age or of a disabled child of up to 16 years of age (the birth certificate of the child and, in the event of disability, a document certifying the disability must be submitted).

Exemption from the tuition fee is granted during the standard period of study and the extension period to full-time and part-time students

• of the curriculum of Nursing Science,
• of an Estonian-taught curriculum of the curriculum group of teacher training and educational sciences.

Students can apply for a release from the tuition fee up to and including 15 September (autumn semester) and 15 February (spring semester).

Release from the tuition fee cannot be applied when recommencing studies at the same level of tertiary education for the second time and restrictions for studying tuition-free for the second or more time  apply. 

Payment of the tuition fee upon an extension of studies

In the first extension semester, a full-time student studying in an Estonian curriculum will pay the tuition fee for each missing credit point short of the prescribed number of credit points to be obtained under the curriculum.

A part-time student studying in an Estonian curriculum pays on the basis of the volume of credit points registered upon the extension of studies or as a semester fee.

Based on the student’s reasoned application, the vice dean for academic affairs or, in doctoral studies, the vice dean for research, may issue a directive to release the full-time student during the extension term in part or in full from paying the tuition fee for defending a graduation thesis or taking a final exam.

Payment of tuition fee during academic leave

Full-time students studying in an Estonian curriculum must pay their study expenses when they go on academic leave in the middle of the semester according to the number of credit points by which they fall short of the threshold set in the previous semester. If the academic leave ends in the ongoing semester there is no obligation to pay the tuition fee as long as the student has paid for the semester spent studying before the start of academic leave. If the student is on academic leave for less than ten study weeks (less than 70 days) in a semester, the semester is considered to be a studied semester. The tuition fee for that semester must be paid in the following semester if the study load was smaller than required.

Part-time students studying in an Estonian curriculum will be required to pay their study expenses if academic leave starts after the due date. If academic leave ends before the due date, the tuition fee must be paid for the current semester, while no tuition fee is required for the current semester if academic leave ends after the due date. If the student paticipates in studies during academic leave, the tuition fee must be payed.

Recommencement of studies

If you apply again to the University of Tartu via admission, it will not be possible to apply for a second tuition-waiver student place, or for an Estonian-taught curriculum, if

• you have been deleted from the matriculation register and are matriculated in the same curriculum within two years;
• you have studied on the same level of tertiary education on a tuition-waiver student place (or on an Estonian curriculum) and restrictions for studying tuition-free for the second or more time  apply. 

Upon recommencement of full-time or part-time studies on an Estonian-taught curriculum, the tuition fee is to be paid on the basis of the credit point price and the volume of credit points registered for at the beginning of the semester.