Financial support for studies: Studienstarthilfe for Students of Universities, Academies or higher level Technical Colleges

Apply for start-up aid for a degree course

If you need financial support for your expenses at the beginning of your studies, you can apply for a one-off grant under certain conditions.

Especially at the beginning of their studies, students have to make a number of expenses. These include, for example

• Teaching materials,
• IT equipment or
• rent deposit when moving to a new city.

The Federal Training Assistance Act (BAföG) provides funding for precisely these expenses.

The amount of funding is 1000 EUR. This amount is granted to you as a one-off subsidy. This means that you do not have to repay the amount.

You can use the grant to study at

• a university in Germany or abroad and
• at an academy that awards a degree at university level,

receive.

The prerequisite for a grant is that

• you have not yet reached the age of 25 at the start of your studies and
• you or your family have received certain social benefits prior to your studies.

You or your family must have received the social benefit in the month before the start of your studies. You must submit the application by the end of the month following the start of your studies.

What are the prerequisites?

You can receive start-up aid if

• you are starting a course of study at a university or equivalent academy,
• you are studying full-time,
• you are under the age of 25 when you start your studies,
• you or your family received the following social benefits in the month before the start of your studies:
  • Citizen's allowance,
  • social assistance,
  • Basic security benefits in old age and in the event of reduced earning capacity,
  • Benefits for living expenses under the law on social compensation,
  • Benefits under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act,
  • receipt of the child supplement through
    • You as a trainee yourself for your own children or
    • your parents for you
  • Receiving housing benefit yourself or as a household member,
  • Receipt of child and youth welfare benefits and parents are not required to contribute to the costs from their income.

Which documents are required?

• Certificate of enrollment or form 02
• Proof of receipt of social benefits

Are there costs involved?

There are no costs involved.

What is the application procedure?

Procedure You can only apply for study start-up aid online. The procedure is as follows:

• Register with BAföG Digital and create a BundID user account using
  • the online identification function of your identity card or
  • user name and password.
• Complete the form data fields online using the application wizard.
• Upload the required documents.
• Send your data electronically to the responsible office.
• The Office for Educational Support or the office appointed by the state to implement the application will check the documents for completeness. If documents are missing, you will be asked to submit them.
• If the application is complete, it will be checked and you will be notified of the decision.

How long does processing take?

A processing time of 7 to 14 days is to be expected.
If, on presentation of the complete documents

What are the relevant deadlines?

You must submit the application by the end of the month following the start of your studies at the latest. This usually results in a two-month application deadline for you: for example, if you start your studies on October 1 of a given year, the deadline expires on November 30 of the same year.

What conditions must be observed?

The following information is available:

• If you provide false or incomplete information or fail to report changes, you may be prosecuted or fined as an administrative offense. Amounts paid in error can be reclaimed.
• As an applicant, your data on the BAföG Digital portal will be compared with application data already stored in order to prevent multiple applications. For this purpose, the application data defined in more detail in the law will be stored for a period of 3 years.

What legal assistance is available?

• As a rule, objection
• Action before the administrative court

In which languages is the service available?

BAföG Digital is currently available in German.