BAföG student finance: Approval for students

BAföG is the abbreviation for the Federal Training Assistance Act. BAföG is the colloquial term for the funding you can receive under this law. You receive the funding to finance

• your degree programme,
• subject to certain conditions, a compulsory work placement as part of your degree programme.

In order to receive the monthly grant, you must meet certain other criteria in addition to demonstrating financial need. The most important of these are:

• They are studying full-time.
• Age limit: 45 years. Exceptions may be made.

The amount of your BAföG is based on a set monthly allowance. Money is deducted from this allowance if your parents, your spouse or civil partner, or you yourself earn slightly more.

If you are a student, half of the funding is provided as a loan and half as a grant. This means that, as a rule, you only have to repay half of the money once you have finished your studies. You generally do not have to pay any interest on the loan (″interest-free loan″). The maximum repayment amount is generally €10,010, regardless of the total amount of funding received. This corresponds to 77 monthly instalments of €130 each, starting from the beginning of the repayment period. The Federal Office of Administration (BVA) is responsible for collecting the loan repayments. You will not begin repayments until 5 years after the end of the maximum funding period, which usually corresponds to the standard duration of study. If you do not earn enough to start repaying your loan, you can apply to the Federal Administrative Office for a deferral of payments.

If you are a student, your monthly expenses consist of various components:

• Basic requirements:
  • 475 EUR if you are studying at a higher technical college, academy or higher education institution, such as a university.
• Accommodation requirements:
  • 59 EUR if you live with your parents or
  • 380 EUR if you do not live with your parents.
• If you are not covered by your parents’ health and long-term care insurance, you will receive an additional 102 EUR and 35 EUR respectively.
• If you have a child under the age of 14 living in your household, you will also receive a childcare allowance of 160 EUR for each child.

Within the European Union (EU) and in Switzerland, your studies can be funded from the outset right through to the award of your foreign qualification. For stays abroad outside the EU, BAföG is available for up to one year; in exceptional cases, for up to 2.5 years. Your stay abroad must take place within a continuous period and in a single country, unless attending educational institutions in several countries is of particular significance to your studies.

Your compulsory work placement abroad may also be eligible for BAföG funding. For this to apply, your work placement must last at least 12 weeks if it takes place outside the EU.

If you are spending a semester or a year abroad, or undertaking an internship abroad, you can apply for additional funding towards your travel costs, tuition fees and international health insurance. For stays abroad outside the EU or Switzerland, you will also receive a purchasing power adjustment. You do not have to repay any supplements for verifiably necessary tuition fees incurred abroad.

The following amounts are taken into account, i.e. they reduce your BAföG requirement:

• The income of your parents and your spouse or partner in the year before last prior to the start of the authorisation period, if it exceeds the allowance. The allowance is:
  • €2,540 if your parents live together,
  • EUR 1,690 per parent, if your parents live apart and
  • EUR 1,690 for your spouse or partner
• Your own income, in so far as it exceeds 556 EUR per month. In addition, there may be further allowances if you pay maintenance to other people.
• Your own assets, provided that they exceed EUR 15,000 before you reach the age of 30, or EUR 45,000 after you reach the age of 30.

Please note: If your parents, spouse or partner are currently earning significantly less than they did in the year before last prior to the grant of benefits, you may submit an application for an update. In addition, there may be further additional allowances, for example for further children or other dependants of your parents or your partner under civil law.

Parent-independent BAföG:

Your parents’ income will not be taken into account if you

• have been in employment for 5 years since turning 18, or
• have completed a three-year vocational training course leading to a qualification and have subsequently been in paid employment for at least three years. If the training period was shorter, a correspondingly longer period of paid employment is required.
• are over 30 years of age at the start of their training.

Note: The starting point for calculating income is generally the total of all positive earnings. Under the legislation governing student finance, for employees this is the gross income less the

• Advertising expenses,
• social lump sum and the
• taxes actually paid, including church tax and the solidarity surcharge.

Child benefit that your parents receive for you is not taken into account.

You must notify the Training Office in writing without delay of any change in your financial circumstances or in your family or training situation. This includes, for example, if your income changes, if you switch training programmes, suspend or terminate your training, or if your siblings do so.

There is a maximum duration for funding. You can receive BAföG until the end of the standard period of study or a comparable period as determined. After that, your BAföG may be extended once – either during your Bachelor’s or Master’s degree – by one semester without you having to give a reason. This is known as the ‘flexibility semester’. There are also other options for extending your funding. For example, if you have exceeded the maximum funding period because you

• who have failed the final examination for the first time,
• have a disability,
• are or have been pregnant,
• have brought up a child aged 14 or under,
• are or have been active in committees and bodies of the university, the student self-governing body, the student services organisations or the federal states, as provided for by law or the statutes, or
• have cared for close relatives classified as at least care level 3 in a home setting.

An extension on the grounds mentioned is possible either before or after a flexibility semester. If you have previously been granted an extension due to failing your final examination, you will not be eligible for a flexibility semester afterwards.

Please note: If you are entitled to an extension due to a disability, pregnancy or the care and upbringing of a child aged up to 14, you will receive full grant funding (with no loan component) for the duration of the extension deemed appropriate in this regard. It may therefore be advisable to make use of this extension option first, instead of or before taking a flexibility semester. If necessary, seek advice from your BAföG office.

If you drop out of one degree programme and start another (a ‘change of degree programme’), your new degree programme will only be eligible for funding if

• the transfer has taken place by the third semester at the latest, or
• the change took place in the 4th semester and there is a valid reason for the change, or
• there was a compelling reason for the change, for example:
  • a disability that arose after commencing their studies, or
  • an allergy to certain substances that has developed since commencing studies and which makes it impossible to continue with one’s studies or to pursue the career previously envisaged.

A transfer on compelling grounds will still be recognised even after the fourth academic term.

Interns:

BAföG funding is only available for work placements that you undertake whilst enrolled on a degree programme that is eligible for BAföG funding.

Only compulsory work placements are eligible for funding. These are work placements required by your degree programme regulations, which you must therefore complete in order to graduate. Compulsory work placements undertaken outside the EU are only eligible for funding if they last at least 12 weeks. Compulsory work placements within EU Member States may also be funded if they are shorter than 12 weeks.