Living in Frankfurt as a Student

Frankfurt am Main

Frankfurt am Main (Frankfurt on the banks of the Main) is the real Manhattan of Germany, the financial center. It is the financial capital built on the banks of the Main River and stands out with its modern infrastructure and buildings. There is another Frankfurt on the banks of the Oder River on the Polish border in Germany (Frankfurt an der Oder). The city we know as Frankfurt and will talk about is the city on the banks of the Main River.

Frankfurt is famous for its skyscrapers and for this reason it is called “Mainhattan”. The city, where the European Central Bank and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange are located, is also home to more than 150 international banks. The headquarters of many innovative big companies are also located here. Although you won’t find crowds on the streets like on Wall Street, you will immediately realize that you are in a financial city by the way people dress.

Frankfurt is more dynamic and cosmopolitan than other big cities in Germany. Business opportunities have attracted many nationalities to the city, international initiatives, investments and giant fairs have increased the number of visitors. You are more likely to hear English, Spanish and even Turkish than German on the streets. There is always talk about the high crime rate in a city that harbors such a variety of nationalities. Even though some of the neighborhoods in NYC are as bad as some of the notorious ones, I continue to believe that this is a matter of prejudice.

Students usually hang out away from the hustle and bustle of the big city, around the new campus building, the old IG Farben building in Westend, Grüneburgpark and the famous Palmengarten. It is said to be a student paradise (unfortunately we haven’t been there yet). But you can get everywhere quickly via S-Bahn and U-Bahn. Since Frankfurt has a mild climate due to its location, it is also one of the most attractive cities for cyclists.

Frankfurt International Airport is the largest airport in Germany and the train station is one of the largest in the world. This makes the city a convenient place to study and work, with all transportation operations clearly connected.

LIFE IN FRANKFURT

Frankfurt is one of the most expensive cities in Germany (it wants to compete with Munich in this regard). This is especially evident in apartment rents. Since the rents in the city center are high, students prefer to live in the suburbs. Offenbach, where Turks live densely, is one of the popular areas. Due to the students’ preference for the suburbs, the universities in Frankfurt are widely known as “suburban universities”.

Since Frankfurt is used as a serious “hub” for air transportation, the airport is very big and busy and so is the air traffic. As such, the closer you live to the airport, the lower the rents are due to the noise. Therefore, students also prefer this area. In my real estate searches, rents in locations close to Frankfurt University started from 500 Euros for shared apartments and 650 Euros for independent apartments. On the Offenbach side, I saw that these figures can be 100-150 Euros cheaper, and 200 – 250 Euros cheaper on the airport side. (you should add roughly 125-150 Euros for heating + taxes to the given figures)

There are 24 dormitory complexes run by Studirendenwerk, housing around 3000 people. Dormitory rooms cost between 230 and 500 Euros, but given the number of students in the city, you can expect to get a dormitory for roughly 2 years.

Studierendenwerk Dormitories

FRANKFURT BY THE NUMBERS

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