Apply for financial support: Student BAföG

Description

BAföG is the abbreviation for the Federal Training Promotion Act. BAföG is colloquially referred to as the support you can receive under this law. The funding is available to you for financing

• your studies,
• under certain conditions of a prescribed internship within the scope of your studies.

To receive the monthly grant, you must meet a number of requirements. The most important are:

• Your parents and/or partner earn comparatively little.
• You have no or no income.
• Your assets are less than the €8,200 allowance.
• You are studying full-time
• Age limit: 30 years; in the Master 35 years (exceptions are possible)

If you are studying, you will receive half of the funding as a loan and half as a grant. This means that you only have to repay half of the money after graduation. The loan is interest-free, you do not have to pay interest ("interest-free loan"). You do not start repayment until 5 years after the end of the maximum duration of the grant, which is usually the same as your standard study period. You must repay a maximum of EUR 10,010, which corresponds to 77 monthly instalments of EUR 130 each from the start of the repayment. If you do not earn enough to take out the repayment of your loan, you can apply to the Federal Administration Office for a deferral of payment. The amount of your BAföG depends on a fixed monthly requirement. Money is deducted from this need if your parents, your partner or yourself earn comparatively much.

Students

When you study, your monthly needs are made up of different parts:

• Basic requirements:
  • EUR 398.00 if you are attending a technical school class for which you need completed vocational training, an evening grammar school or a college, or
  • EUR 427.00 if you complete your education at a higher technical school, academy or university (e. g. at a university).
• Need for accommodation:
  • EUR 56.00 if you live with your parents or if you
  • EUR 325.00 if you do not live with your parents.
• If you are unable to obtain health/care insurance through your parents, you will receive an additional EUR 84.00 or EUR 25.00.
• f you have a child under 14 years of age who lives in your household, you will also receive a childcare supplement: EUR 150.00 for each child.

The following amounts will be credited, i. e. they will reduce your BAföG requirements:

• The income of your parents and/or spouse/partner in the penultimate year prior to the start of the grant period if it is above the allowance. The allowance is:
  • EUR 1,890 if your parents live together,
  • EUR 1,260 per parent if your parents live separately and
  • EUR 1,260 for a possible spouse/life partner.
  • Note: If your parents or spouse/partner currently earn significantly less than in the penultimate year before the grant, you can apply for an update.
  • Parent-independent BAföG: Your parents' income is not taken into account if you
  • were in employment for 5 years after the age of 18, or
  • have completed a 3-year training course and then worked for at least 2 years.
  • In certain exceptional cases, if you are over 30 years of age at the start of your training.
• Your own income if you earn more than EUR 450.00 per month yourself.
• Your own assets if you own more than EUR 8,200.

Therefore, if, for example, they have a basic requirement of EUR 649.00 and

• you do not live with your parents,
• Your parents live separately and your father earned EUR 29,470 and EUR 21,740 gross in the penultimate year,
• you earn EUR 400.00 per month with your part-time job and
• have no assets,

EUR 87.11 will be deducted from your needs due to your father's income surplus and EUR 8.14 due to your mother's income surplus. Your €400 part-time job will not affect your BAföG rate. You will then receive a total of EUR 554.00 BAföG.

Note: The starting point for the income calculation is basically the sum of the positive income. In tax law, this is gross income less the

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

You can receive BAföG until the end of the standard study period. Only in exceptional cases can your BAföG be renewed thereafter, for example, if you

• have not passed the final examination,
• have a disability,
• are or have been pregnant,
• have raised a child up to 14 years of age,
• are or have been active in student self-government, higher education bodies or bodies, the Studentenwerk or the student self-government, or
• have cared for close relatives.

If you drop out of your studies and start another course ("change of course"), your new course can only be supported if

• the change took place at the latest in the second semester of the trade semester, or
• the change took place in the 3rd semester and there is an important reason for the change, or
• the change follows from the 4th semester and there was an unwavetable reason for the change, for example:
• a disability occurring after the start of the training, or
• an allergy to certain substances which makes it impossible to continue training or pursue the profession pursued up to now.

Studying abroad

If you are completing a semester or year abroad, you can apply for supplements to travel expenses, tuition fees and health insurance abroad. Shorter stays are also eligible for study abroad and purchasing power compensation is also granted for stays abroad outside the EU/Switzerland. For example, if you are studying at a university in Germany, do not live with your parents, but are insured through them, and do not have a child of your own, your need is EUR 752.00 (basic requirement of EUR 427.00 plus EUR 325.00 need for accommodation).

Interns:

With BAföG, only internships that you complete can be promoted while you are in an apprenticeship that is eligible under the BAföG. Only compulsory traineeships are eligible. These are internships that prescribe your study regulations or the training plan, which you must do in order to complete or complete your studies or training. Compulsory traineeships completed abroad are only eligible if they last at least 12 weeks. Compulsory traineeships within the EU Member States are supported regardless of a minimum length of stay.

You can also get BAföG if you complete your entire studies abroad in the EU.