What One German Lesson Costs You in Berlin
The same 45 minutes of German teaching can legally cost you nothing, 80 cents or 10 euro in Berlin, and the rules change the moment you pass B1. Set your level and the one fact about your situation that moves the money, and this ranks every route on a single price scale.
Every figure here is per Unterrichtseinheit, the 45-minute teaching unit every German rule is written in. The Volkshochschule band comes from the Berlin Senate fee ordinance for the Volkshochschulen, whose base value rose to 3.20 EUR on 1 August 2026, with the separate rule that German courses up to and including B1 are capped at 130 per cent of the federal integration-course contribution. That contribution is 2.29 EUR a unit, and the job-related course contribution is 2.56 EUR for people above the income line. The two private-school figures are published Berlin price lists read on 13 September 2026. Schools set their own prices inside those rules, so treat the bars as the legal frame and not as a quote.
Pick the level your German is at now and the one line that describes your situation. The chart redraws: each route shows the range it can legally or publicly charge for one 45-minute unit, ranked cheapest first, with the routes that do not run at your level greyed out underneath. The list below the chart gives the price for the next 100 units and the eligibility catch on each one.
B1 is where the pricing law changes
Berlin prices German as a second or foreign language differently from every other Volkshochschule subject, but only up to and including B1. On that rung the fee is at least 25 per cent of the base value and at most 130 per cent of the federal integration-course contribution, which puts it between 80 cents and about 2.98 euro a unit, and no individual reduction applies. From B2 upwards the normal band returns, between 1.60 and 8.00 euro a unit, and the 50 per cent reduction comes back with it.
The two routes that can cost nothing
The Integrationskurs is 700 units ending at B1, 1,603 euro at the standard contribution, payable per 100-unit module, with full exemption possible on benefits or a low income and half refunded if you pass within two years. The Berufssprachkurs runs above B1 in 400-unit blocks and is free unless you are employed on taxable income over 20,000 euro, when it is 2.56 euro a unit with half back on success. Both need a Berechtigungsschein, and that document is the real gate.
Who the 50 per cent reduction covers above B1
Holders of a Berlin-Ticket S entitlement, people on Sozialhilfe, Buergergeld, Wohngeld, Kinderzuschlag, Arbeitslosengeld, Kurzarbeitergeld or Asylbewerberleistungen and their household, full-time students at state or state-recognised universities, apprentices, school leavers without a place for up to twelve months, people doing Bundesfreiwilligendienst or a voluntary year, and holders of the Ehrenamtskarte Berlin-Brandenburg. None of it applies below B1.
Two things to check before you book
German and integration courses at the Berlin Volkshochschulen are registered in person, after a placement and advice appointment, with your passport, and the autumn semester opens four to six weeks before it starts. And the cancellation window is short: free within 14 days of booking, then 20 per cent or a 10 euro minimum, and no cancellation at all from the fifth day before the course begins.