Each institution sets its own semester fee, the same for EU and non-EU students – e.g. CHF 500 at the University of Lausanne and CHF 2,190 for international students at ETH Zurich. Switzerland has 10 cantonal universities, 2 federal institutes of technology and universities of applied sciences, with more than 4,000 programmes in total. Find out when to apply, how to plan your budget and how many hours you may work.
Switzerland is one of the most expensive countries to study in. ETH Zurich advises budgeting CHF 20,000–26,000 a year for living and studying. A sample student budget on the Study in Switzerland portal is CHF 1,850 a month, including around CHF 700 for housing and CHF 600 for food.
Start looking for accommodation early – there are few rooms in student residences, and prices vary a lot between cities. Student housing cooperatives and housing offices can help, e.g. WOKO in Zurich, WoVe in Basel and SUB in Bern, as well as the institutions' own housing offices.
Sources: European Commission – Study in Europe (education.ec.europa.eu/study-in-europe), Eurostat, official national study and residence portals and authorities, Eurodesk, enic-naric.net, studentnews.eu. As of September 2026.
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