Semester ticket
Are you studying or attending preliminary courses for your degree programme? Do you commute back and forth between university and home? With the semester ticket and our pre-course ticket, you can travel comfortably and easily by bus and train. With both tickets, you can travel flexibly and cheaply by public transport in the VRR - even in your free time.
What you need to know about the semester ticket
All universities and colleges that issue the semester ticket in the VRR area also automatically issue the NRW-SemesterTicket. For students, this means convenient travel on public transport throughout NRW.
You can find all information about the semester and pre-course ticket in the FAQ.
FAQ
FAQ
With the semester ticket, students can make journeys during their studies in the respective transport associations and, if applicable, throughout NRW with all local transport.
All regularly enrolled students at colleges and universities in the VRR who are listed in the NRW Higher Education Act receive the semester ticket. Exceptions are permitted for students with a severely disabled person's pass or on a semester off, as well as guest students, as these groups of people may be entitled to travel on the basis of a severely disabled person's pass or are not enrolled as guest students.
The prerequisite for obtaining a semester ticket is a contract between the college/university or its General Students' Committee (AStA) and a VRR transport company.
The semester ticket is not freely available for sale. It is part of the so-called social contribution that students pay each semester for social and cultural services provided by the university. The university administration provides the ticket either digitally on the student ID card, in paper form or as a document for printing.
- VRR semester ticket: €30.89 per month in the 2025/2026 winter semester and €32.41 per month in the 2026 summer semester.
- NRW semester ticket: €42.79 per month in the 2025/2026 winter semester and €44.31 per month in the 2026 summer semester.
Students pay the amount directly to the college/university.
The semester ticket is not freely available for sale. It is part of the so-called social contribution that students have to pay each semester for social and cultural services provided by the university. For this reason, the semester ticket cannot be waived if the university/university of applied sciences issues it.
With the semester ticket, you can take one other person with you free of charge in the VRR network area (price level D) from Monday to Friday from 19:00, at weekends, on public holidays and all day on 24 December and 31 December.
Bicycle transport is also included all day in the network area, provided that vehicle capacity utilisation permits.
For journeys with the NRW-SemesterTicket outside the VRR area, there is no entitlement to take an additional person and bicycle with you.
With the semester ticket, you can use all means of public transport in the VRR: Underground trains, light rail and trams, suspension railways, buses, X-buses and regional trains (S-Bahn, RB, RE).
All universities in the network area that issue the VRR semester ticket also issue the NRW semester ticket to students, so the name on the ticket makes no difference. Holders of semester tickets from the North and South regions can travel throughout the entire VRR area. Journeys to the Netherlands covered by the VRR tariff are also included.
You can contact your local transport company or the AStA at your college/university.
With the DeutschlandTicket, you can travel flexibly by bus and train even after your studies. And even throughout Germany.