Quick Facts
| Tuition Range | About €1,200 – €5,000 per year (medicine, dentistry and pharmacy €12,000 – €16,000 or more) |
|---|---|
| Living Cost | About €500 – €600 per month |
| Intakes | September (main), February |
| Last Verified Date | November 10, 2026 |
Hungary offers low living costs, a capital city that students love, and one of the world’s best-known government scholarships. Budapest, Debrecen, Szeged and Pécs host 64 accredited higher education institutions with more than 700 courses in English, German, French and other languages, and Hungarian degrees are recognised across the European Union. Medicine and dentistry in English are a particular draw, with six-year one-tier programmes that attract students from all over the world.
What it costs to study in Hungary
Each university sets its own tuition, so there is no single national range. As a planning guide, many English-taught public-university programmes cost about €1,200–€5,000 a year, while medicine, dentistry and pharmacy cost about €12,000–€16,000 or more — Semmelweis University, for example, lists €9,340 per semester for General Medicine in English. Students from the EU and EEA can study tuition-free on state-funded places in Hungarian-taught programmes. Living costs run about €500–€600 a month for accommodation, food and other expenses, with Budapest the most expensive and smaller cities cheaper. A dormitory place costs about HUF 18,000–36,000 a month, a shared flat about HUF 80,000–140,000, and the University of Pécs estimates a minimum of about HUF 250,000 a month. The Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship changes the calculation entirely for students from partner countries: it covers tuition in full and pays a monthly stipend of HUF 43,700, a free dormitory place or HUF 40,000 a month towards rent, and medical insurance.
Residence permit and financial proof
Students from outside the EU and EEA need a residence permit for the purpose of studies, applied for at a Hungarian mission abroad; approval doubles as the D entry visa, so there is no separate visa application. The National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing sets no fixed amount of money to show; applicants must prove with documents that they can pay for living costs, accommodation, healthcare and the journey home. Scholarship holders must take a Hungarian language course in their first year, or the stipend is not paid, and the scholarship’s own guidance warns that the stipend is only a contribution to living costs.
Working while you study
Under the law in force since 1 January 2024, a student holding a residence permit for studies may work up to 30 hours a week during the study period and full-time for up to 90 days a year outside it, with no separate work permit needed. A Hungarian tax identification number must exist before an employer can put a student on the payroll. Older guides that give a different figure describe the law that was repealed in 2024 and should not be followed. Thirty hours a week is more generous than the 20 hours allowed in several other European destinations, but work should still be treated as support for living costs rather than as a way to pay tuition.
Staying on after graduation
Graduates can apply for a residence permit for the purpose of seeking a job or starting a business, valid for a maximum of nine months and explicitly not extendable. It must be applied for in Hungary at least 15 days before the student permit expires, and it requires a registered Hungarian address, proof of subsistence, health cover and either registration with the employment service or an employer’s undertaking to hire within three months. It buys nine months to find an employer; it does not convert into a work permit by itself. Hungary has no two-year post-study work visa of the kind offered by some other countries, so graduates should start the job search during the final semester.
Applying
The main intake is September, with February starts for some programmes. More than 700 courses are offered in English and other foreign languages, and English-taught programmes commonly ask for about IELTS 5.5–6.5, with the exact score set by each programme. Stipendium Hungaricum applicants are nominated by a sending partner in their own country — a ministry or agency — and the 2026–27 call closed on 15 January 2026. Because nomination comes first, scholarship applicants should contact their national sending partner a full year before the intended start.
Official source: Study in Hungary (Tempus Public Foundation)
