Esslingen University of Applied Sciences charges no tuition fees to EU and EEA students for Bachelor's and consecutive Master's programmes, because Baden-Württemberg funds the university like any other public university in the state. Non-EU students are the exception: since the winter semester of 2017/18, Baden-Württemberg has charged non-EU nationals a state-level tuition fee, and Esslingen applies it in full, including a higher rate for its separate, non-consecutive MBA programme.

Every student, regardless of nationality, also pays a mandatory semester contribution. It is not a fee for teaching — it funds the Studierendenwerk Stuttgart, the administrative costs of the university, the student body, and public transport.

No tuition for EU/EEA students does not mean no proof of funds, and the Baden-Württemberg fee does not replace it either. For the student visa you still need to show about 11,904 EUR for the year, usually in a blocked account, transferred months before the semester starts.

These are the deadlines that apply to non-EU applicants. At most German universities the non-EU deadline for Master's programmes falls earlier than the general date, but Esslingen is a case where it does not: for the university's standard Bachelor's and Master's programmes, non-EU applicants face the same 15 July (winter) and 15 January (summer) deadlines as EU applicants.

Esslingen University teaches 3 degree programmes fully in English, all at Master's level and all run through the separate Esslingen Graduate School: the MBA in International Industrial Management, the M.Eng. in Automotive Systems, and the M.Eng. in Design and Development in Automotive and Mechanical Engineering.

These sit alongside 31 Bachelor's and 14 Master's programmes taught in German, so every Bachelor's programme at Esslingen requires German, unlike universities where English-taught Bachelor's options exist. The English-taught Master's programmes can be studied without German, though everyday German still helps with housing, part-time work and the authorities.

The semester itself begins on 1 September (winter) or 1 March (summer), but lectures start several weeks later — plan to arrive in Esslingen before lectures begin for city registration, a bank account and a room.

Founded in 1868 as an engineering school, Esslingen University of Applied Sciences is one of Germany's longer-established universities of applied sciences, with around 6,000 students across three campuses in Esslingen and nearby Göppingen. Its strengths lie in mechanical and electrical engineering, automotive engineering, computer science, business and social work, reflecting close ties to major regional employers such as Mercedes-Benz, Bosch, Porsche and Festo in the Stuttgart industrial region.

Esslingen am Neckar itself is a historic town on the edge of the Stuttgart metropolitan area, giving students small-city living with a large regional labour market a short train ride away.