With the refund, students who meet strictly defined criteria (reasons for refund) agreed with RMV can get their semester ticket fee back. Affected students must still pay the full semester fee to the TU and have the money refunded by us afterwards. Partial refunds are not possible. The refund application must be submitted separately for each semester.
Contents
Application
Deadlines
For (almost) every type of application, the following deadlines for the semester of application must be met. Applications and proof after the relevant deadline will not be accepted.
Winter semester:
- Application: by October 21
- Original copy of the original semester ticket at the AStA office and all required proof in the online system: by November 11
Summer semester:
- Application: by April 21
- Original copy of the original semester ticket at the AStA office and all required proof in the online system: by May 12
An exception to these deadlines are refunds for health reasons and refunds for social reasons. Applications for reimbursement for health reasons may be submitted retroactively for the last semester (the deadlines for the semester after the illness therefore apply). Reimbursement for social reasons may be applied for until the end of the respective semester (winter semester: March 31, summer semester: September 30). These cases are therefore the only reasons for reimbursement in which the entitlement to travel for the semester in question does not lapse.
If a deadline cannot be met for a good reason (not e.g. forgotten or vacation!), an appeal can be submitted.
Procedure
You first submit an application via the refund portal (see above) and upload the necessary documents as a legible photo or scan. We also need your original student ID card in order to devaluate the semester ticket on it.
You can bring the semester ticket to the AStA office or send it by post. The address is
AStA TU Darmstadt
Hochschulstraße 1
64289 Darmstadt
Your application will be approved as soon as the semester ticket has arrived and the proof submitted online is complete. If anything is still missing, we will send you an email asking you to submit the documents. The money will be credited to your bank account by bank transfer once the ticket has been devaluated. You can collect the devaluated ticket or we will send it back to you by post if you have provided an address in Germany.
If you would like to have your student ID devaluated at the AStA office and take it back with you straight away, select the on-site procedure when applying. Here, the documents will first be checked and the application approved. Only then will you be asked by email to submit your semester ticket by the deadline. If you have chosen the on-site procedure and you are about to leave the Darmstadt area, you should deposit your semester ticket at the AStA office to ensure that the deadlines are met. If the semester ticket is not submitted on time, the application will be rejected and a refund will no longer be possible.
3 different procedures:
- On-site procedure ("Vor-Ort-Verfahren"): The semester ticket does not have to be in the office yet for your application to be approved. In this case, the evidence is first checked and the application approved. Only then will you be asked by e-mail to submit your semester ticket within the final deadline.
- Pick it up yourself ("Selbst abholen"): We must receive your semester ticket so that we can approve your application by the deadline. And you can take your ticket with you.
- Send it ("Verschicken"): Your semester ticket must be in the office before the final deadline. So that we can send it back to your address with the approval letter.
Reasons for refund
All students pay a semester contribution during the enrollment at the university. This is distributed for TU Darmstadt, Studentenwerk Darmstadt and the AStA TU Darmstadt, which also includes the contribution for semester ticket. The distribution can be seen here.
The semester ticket is a service for students based on solidarity principle and very cheap in comparison with the normal Deutschlandticket because it is collectively paid by all the students irrespective of the usage. In cases of financial hardships, it is not reasonable to buy the semester ticket. According to specific criteria given in the constitution for financial hardship (German), it is possible to get your semester ticket cancelled and get the price reimbursed.
In the following situations, you have the right to apply for reimbursement of the cost for the semester ticket:
Exchange semester abroad
When you are abroad for a minimum of three months during the semester for your studies, you can apply for reimbursement of the money you had paid for your semester ticket. To easiest way to prove this is the letter of acceptance or enrollment certificate of the university you're studying at abroad.
Handicap/physically challenged
If you are in posession of an identity card for severely disabled people, you can apply for a reimbursement provided that you can use the public transportation. We need a copy of your identity card for disabled people and the additional paper and the token mentioning your disability.
You get this token at the maintenance council. The validity of this token begins ideally with the semester (April 1 or October 1). Discuss the details with the maintenance council so that you can use the public transportation at any time.
Holiday semester
If you applied for a holiday semester from the university, you can apply for reimbursement. You can prove the status that you are in holiday semester through the letter which you receive from the university. If you have paid the fee for the following semester and then applied for a holiday semester, you would first receive your semester ticket. Then, you receive a second mail confirm/rejecting your status that your application for being in holiday semester is approved/rejected correspondingly. In certain cases, you might not receive the semster ticket. In such cases, write a mail to and we will try to clarify from the students admission office
Enrollment of study in two universities
If you are enrolled in two universities simulataneously and both offer the Deutschland semester ticket, you can apply for a reimbursement. You prove this by submitting the semester ticket issued by the second university. Obviously, you place an application in one of the student representative offices (AStA).
On health grounds
If you could not use your semester ticket beacuse of health reasons, you can apply for reimbursement. We accept the inability to use your phone as a valid reason because it is impossible to use the mobile ticket in that case. Health issues cannot be predicted in advance in most cases. Therefore, in contrast to the above mentioned reasons, you can apply for reimbursement in the following semester. The Doctor who had treated you should provide a letter stating that it was not possible for you to use any public means of transport. You will be partially compensated for the months during the semester in which that was the case.
Landes-Ticket Hessen
If you have a Landes-Ticket Hessen that is valid in addition to your semester ticket - for example, because you are employed at TU Darmstadt - you can apply for a refund. We need a copy of the Landes-Ticket Hessen uploaded in the application as proof.
Please note that this only applies to the Landes-Ticket Hessen and not to the RMV-Jobticket or Deutschlandticket.
The refund option is only available if the Deutschland-Semesterticket has not yet been claimed via the semester ticket portal.
In the case of a refund due to the state ticket, please clarify in advance whether the personal state ticket will be extended in the following year, as otherwise there will be additional costs of €15 for the new creation of the semester ticket (plus repayment of the refund to the AStA).
No reasons for reimbursement
If you do not use a semester ticket because you like to always drive your car or you travel with Bahncard 100 or have bought any IC monthly travel card or you live directly near to the university, it is not a valid reason for you to get your money reimbursed. All the students of the university pay the contributions for the semester ticket on grounds of solidarity .
Students who are also working should not posses a RMV-Jobticket parallely. Employees can avail other subsidies or social allowances from their employers instead of a travel job ticket (although you do not have absolute claiming rights for that).
Since the introduction of the Deutschland Semester ticket, a thesis or internship where you live outside the RMV area of validity is not a valid reason for reimbursement anymore!
Appeal
If you were unable to meet the deadline for a good reason (e.g. not forgetting or being on vacation!) or if your application was wrongly rejected, you can lodge an objection. You can do this by sending an informal application with the reasons why you were unable to meet the deadline or why the rejection is unjustified and all supporting documents as an attachment to .
Your appeal will be dealt with by the semester ticket objection committee. This committee is made up of students and is elected by the student parliament. The decision of the Semester Ticket Appeals Committee is final.
The Semester Ticket Appeals Committee meets irregularly, but usually at least once at the end of each semester. We ask for your understanding that students, especially those involved in university politics, are constantly pressed for time. It is therefore best not to expect a quick response. If you want to help relieve the AStA, we are always happy to have more active members in university politics :)
Special cases
What if I still need the semester ticket after the refund?
Since the summer semester 2015, it has been possible to cancel the refund if, for example, you return from a stay abroad earlier than planned. In this case, please contact us by email at . The fees for the semester ticket must then be paid back directly to the AStA (see below for AStA bank details). Please state the following in the reference: Stornierung Rückerstattung Semesterticket + semester year + matriculation number. As the semester ticket was previously invalidated, we will inform the university after receipt of the money that you can have a new student ID card with a semester ticket issued. The university will charge €15 for the reissue.
Reference:
Stornierung Rückerstattung Semesterticket + semester year + matriculation number
Transfer to:
AStA TU Darmstadt
Sparkasse Darmstadt
IBAN: DE49 5085 0150 0000 5413 97 (transfer details without spaces)
BIC: HELADEF1DAS
No German IBAN
If you don't have a German IBAN, please do not submit an online application, but register directly at .
Social reimbursement
Applications for social reimbursement can be accepted if the payment of the semester ticket fee constitutes a hardship due to social unreasonableness. This is usually the case in the following three cases.
How do I apply for a social refund?
There is a special application form for reimbursement for social reasons, which you can download here on the website or obtain from the AStA office. So that we can get an idea of your situation, you must also enclose your bank statements for the last six months with this application.
The application must be submitted by the end of each semester. All necessary documents must be handed in by then. The application and the documents can be handed in at the AStA office.
Application for reimbursement of the semester ticket for social reasons
Reasons for social reimbursement
1st case: Students who do not live in a domestic partnership (normal students)
Social unreasonableness is generally given if the income minus the costs for health and nursing care insurance, semester fees, rental costs and other special expenses (e.g. extraordinary medical costs or above-average expenses for learning materials) is less than the sum of the average costs for food, clothing and learning materials for the 1st income quartile in the reference group of normal students as specified by the Deutsches Studentenwerk.
The maximum rental costs to be deducted are limited to the local average rent for the lowest income quartile. The current limit is EUR 261.48 per month.
The sum of the average costs for food, clothing and learning materials for the 1st income quartile in the reference group of normal students is currently EUR 182.00 per month.
2nd case: Students who live in a domestic partnership
This group includes in particular students with children and students who are married or partnered. These regulations do not apply to students who live in their parents' household or in a shared flat. The same conditions apply as in the first case, but the total income/expenditure for all members of the cohabitation is counted. Children count as full members.
3rd case: Students who are responsible for the maintenance of at least one child
If the maintenance obligation is met in full by benefits for the child in accordance with SGB II, the purchase of the semester ticket is deemed to be socially unreasonable.
Can I still travel by bus and train after the social reimbursement?
Yes, in contrast to the reimbursement cases mentioned above, you can continue to use the semester ticket with the social reimbursement. The semester ticket is then paid for jointly by the remaining students from a hardship fund.