Student Services is the place to go for advice
Making you feel at home
For many new students, starting at university means leaving home for the first time. While you may experience a few challenges, there’s no need to worry – Student Services is here to help.
Eating
Student Services has six cafeterias in Erlangen and Nuremberg that usually offer three meals each lunchtime including one vegetarian option. There is a vegan dish on offer once a week and fish is served on Fridays. You can also find soup, sides and a range of delicious desserts at the cafeterias. There’s also a salad buffet for when you’re in need of a vitamin fix. Despite the trend for healthy eating, the most popular items on the menu are still chips and Currywurst. Main meals are often available for under two euros for students. For the budget-concious, a large portion of stew or the soup of the day and a bread role is available for just 1.20 euros. You can pay at all cafeterias and cafés with your FAUcard. And with regard to coffee: Student Services only sells fair-trade, organic coffee.
The best place to meet up in Nuremberg is the Insel Schütt cafeteria in the city centre. In Erlangen the Langemarckplatz cafeteria has just been renovated and, as well as the standard cafeteria meals, also has a grill and wok station, a pizza/pasta and salad bar, and the new vitamin-rich, low-fat mensaVital menu. The cafeteria on the Southern Campus in Erlangen is also worth a visit. There you will find a daily deals counter and an organic veggie point offering crunchy veg and soup made from only organic ingredients. Information on the cafeterias and menus is available online.
If you just need a little snack or want to take a coffee break, you can visit one of the 16 cafés. Here you will find sandwiches, cake, sweets and of course drinks. Some of the cafés are open in the mornings for breakfast and have special offers in the afternoons. There are also vending machines at various locations around the University where you can get something to eat when the cafeterias and cafés are closed.
Accommodation
Finding somewhere to live isn’t always easy, but Student Services can help you with this too. It has student accommodation at 16 locations in Erlangen and Nuremberg with space for around 3400 students. A new building with an additional 410 places is currently being built at Erwin-Rommel-Straße. The advantages of student accommodation are that the rooms and apartments are inexpensive and you are guaranteed to meet a lot of your fellow students. Demand is high though, so you will need to apply early. You can apply online through the Student Services website.
If you don’t get a place in student accommodation or would like to live somewhere smaller, it’s worth checking the private accommodation on offer at the referral service, which has offices on the ground floor of the Studentenhaus at Langemarckplatz 4 in Erlangen and at Andreij-Sacharow-Platz in Nuremberg. You can also find the addresses of student accommodation run by other operators in the WERKsWeiser brochure (German) and on the Student Services website.
If you’re willing to spend a few hours of your free time volunteering you might be interested in the Wohnen für Hilfe (German) project. Students who take part help their landlord – a senior citizen or a family, for example – with shopping or gardening, help their children with their homework or walk their dog. In return they are charged very low rent and often become good friends with their hosts.
Various websites such as www.wg-gesucht.de or www.nordbayern.de (German) are also a good place to find accommodation. You can also contact the Mitwohnezentrale service or look out for the many notices on the notice boards in the cafeterias, around the University and in student accommodation posted by people looking for flatmates. The local daily newspapers also publish advertisements for accommodation, mostly on Wednesdays and Saturdays. If you are still unable to find somewhere to stay by the start of the semester, you can always stay in the local youth hostel until you have your own accommodation.
Money
Student Services can also help you with financial questions. It provides advice on BAföG and is the place to submit applications. Simply contact the Training Assistance Office at Student Services Erlangen-Nürnberg, Hofmannstraße 27, Erlangen, phone: +49 9131 80020 or Andreij-Sacharow-Platz 1, Nürnberg, phone: +49 911 588570.
Transport
Once you have transferred your semester fees you can print your semester ticket for the VGN network. This allows you to travel on the entire VGN network between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. on weekdays and all day at weekends – so why not take a trip to the water sports centre at the Brombachsee lake, go climbing in Fränkische Schweiz or do a bit of sightseeing in Bamberg? You also have the option to buy an additional ticket each semester which allows you to travel at any time of day.
Advice
If you have any legal issues, such as with your landlord, the Examinations Office or your employer, you can make use of Student Services’ legal advice service (German) which is free of charge. The psychological counselling service can help you with anxiety about examinations, conflict with your partner, social anxiety and other personal issues. The social counselling service provides advice on topics such as studying as a parent or with a disability or chronic illness.
And much more
Student Services also provides music practice rooms and offers assistance to students who want to organise their own cultural events. In addition, it supports students with children though various parent associations, four daycare facilities in Erlangen and Nuremberg, and a parent and child café at the campus on Regensburger Straße in Nuremberg. Children with at least one parent who is enrolled at the University can receive a special card for free meals at the cafeterias on request.
Student Services website: www.werkswelt.de
More information for new students
The latest issue of frisch! explains almost everything that you need to know as a new student at the University, such as which services are available to help make sure you get off to a good start and how to find accommodation.