Tuition fees reimbursement Germany

Dear all,

I am a Marie Curie Fellow in a ITN. I am at the end of my contract and since a few months I have been asking about the reimbursement of the tuition fees.

PhD Enrolment
In the context of EID and EJD projects, all fellows must be enrolled as PhD candidates. In ETN projects it
is not mandatory, but is strongly recommended and the situation must in any case correspond to what is
stated in the proposal. Note that any enrolment costs or tuition fees are eligible costs and should be
charged to the employer (under "Research, Training and Networking" costs). Under no circumstances
should these costs be charged to you.
 

I had the following experience:
1) Midterm of the project: I was told by my employer (research institute) that "regular" PhD students are not entitled to this cost so it is not clear how to handle this reimbursement.
 

2) Few months before the end of the project: I contacted the project manager asking about the tuition fees. He contacted the finance department of my employer and they replied that tuition fees do not exist in Germany. Which is truth, but then I replied with the previous cited text about any enrolment costs. They were going to consider it.

3) A few months later they told me to send a letter/email to a higher entity to the research institute.

I will update the situation as it develops.

Did any of you have a similar experience in Germany? How did you solve it?

Thanks ahead! 

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Update: Resolution Summary

If you find yourself in a similar situation I recommend you to contact a National Contact Points for Horizon 2020 of the country you're staying.

In my case, the university fee/enrolment cost is divided into: 1) public transport ticket, 2) administrative fee and 3) university fee.

In this way, the finance department ruled that I was entitled only to the administrative fee.

Furthermore, according to the rules of the public sector in Germany they are restricted by law to reimburse claims retroactively within 6 months from the date of application. Therefor I was only entitled to the last semester I was registered in the university.

In the end, I received in my last payroll and extra payment equal to 1 administrative fee (1 out of 6) that were liable to taxation.

Finally, I want to recommend every Marie Curie Fellow to talk to their supervisors from the very begining of the contract regarding the reimbursement of the university fees/costs to make it crystal clear how much are you entitled to and how to proceed with the claim for reimbursement.