BAföG

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 will receive the funding:

• Your school attendance or
• under certain conditions of a prescribed internship as part of your school attendance

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

• Your parents and/or your partner earn comparatively little,
• You yourself have no or a low income,
• Your assets are below the tax-free amount of EUR 8,200,
• You attend school full-time.
• Age limit: 30 years (exceptions are possible)

As a student, you will receive the financial support as a grant. You do not have to pay anything back.

The amount of your BAföG is based on a fixed monthly requirement. Money is deducted from this requirement if your parents, your partner or your partner or you yourself earn comparatively much.

In principle, you can receive BAföG if you want to obtain a vocational qualification or a secondary school leaving certificate. However, if you attend a general school, this only applies from year 10 onwards and only if you cannot live at home (for example, because you cannot complete the desired qualification nearby).

The monthly requirement is made up of two parts:

Basic requirements:

• EUR 391.00 if you attend an evening high school or college
• EUR 247.00 if you attend a vocational college or a technical college that you can attend without having completed vocational training or
• EUR 448.00 if you are attending an evening secondary school, vocational college, evening secondary school or technical college that you can only attend if you have completed vocational training

If you do not live with your parents, you will also receive additional requirements for accommodation:

• A total of EUR 585.00 if you are attending a vocational college or a technical college that you can attend without having completed vocational training or
• A total of EUR 681.00 if you attend an evening secondary school, vocational college, evening secondary school or technical secondary school that you can only attend if you have completed vocational training

You can also receive BAföG if you spend a year abroad during your time at school. You will then also receive a travel allowance for both the outward journey and the return journey:

• EUR 250.00 within Europe or
• EUR 500.00 outside Europe

If you are aiming to obtain your school-leaving qualification via the 2nd educational pathway, you will receive parent-independent BAföG. This means that your parents' income is not taken into account in the calculation.

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

• You attend one of the following types of school as a pupil or trainee:
  • secondary general education school and vocational school from grade 10 if you cannot live with your parents due to your training
  • specialist and technical secondary school (without completed vocational training), if you do not live with your parents
  • vocational school class or vocational school class (without completed vocational training), if it provides a vocational qualification in a course of education lasting at least two years
  • Vocational and technical secondary school class (with completed vocational training),
  • evening secondary school, vocational postgraduate school, evening secondary school, Abendgymnasium and Kolleg or
  • higher technical college or academy

BAföG can only be used to fund internships that you complete while you are in an apprenticeship that is eligible for funding under BAföG.

Only mandatory internships are eligible for funding. These are internships that are prescribed by your training plan, i.e. that you must complete in order to complete or carry out your training. Compulsory internships that are completed abroad are only eligible for funding if they last at least 12 weeks.

Prerequisite

You will receive BAföG for your school attendance, your training and the internship, provided that this is prescribed by the training regulations and lasts at least 12 weeks in the case of internships abroad.

Trainees at evening high schools, colleges, higher technical colleges and academies: Office for Educational Support of the city or district administration at the place of training

Pupils: Office for Educational Support of the city or district administration at the place of residence of the parents, in exceptional cases at the place of residence of the trainee

Competence finder on the website of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research

You receive the student BAföG to finance

• your studies
• under certain conditions of a prescribed internship as part of your studies

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

• Your parents and/or your partner earn comparatively little
• You yourself have no or a low income
• Your assets are below the tax-free amount of EUR 8.200
• You are studying full-time
• Age limit: 30 years; 35 years for a Master's degree (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 pay back half of the money after your studies. The loan is interest-free, you do not have to pay any interest ("interest-free loan"). Repayment does not begin until 5 years after the end of the maximum funding period, which usually corresponds to your standard period of study. You must repay a maximum of EUR 10,010, which corresponds to 77 monthly installments of EUR 130 each from the start of repayment. If you do not earn enough to repay your loan, you can apply to the Bundesverwaltungsamt for a deferral of payment

The amount of your BAföG is based on a fixed monthly requirement. Money is deducted from this requirement if your parents, your partner or you yourself earn comparatively much.

If you are a student, your monthly requirement is made up of different parts:

Basic requirement:

• EUR 398.00 if you are attending a technical college that requires you to have completed vocational training, an evening school or a college or
• EUR 427,00 if you are completing your education at a higher technical college, academy or college (for example at a university)

requirements for accommodation:

• EUR 56.00 if you live with your parents or
• EUR 325.00 if you do not live with your parents
• If you cannot obtain health/nursing care insurance through your parents, you will receive an additional EUR 84.00 or. EUR 25.00
• If you have a child under the age of 10 living in your household, you will also receive a childcare allowance: EUR 150.00 for each child

The following amounts will be taken into account, i.e. they will reduce your BAföG entitlement:

The income of your parents and/or your partner in the penultimate year before the start of the approval period, if it is above the tax-free amount. The allowance is:

• EUR 1,890 if your parents live together (joint household income)
• EUR 1,260 per parent if your parents live separately and
• EUR 1.260 for a possible spouse, partner or civil partner

Note: If your parents or your spouse, partner or civil partner currently earn significantly less than in the year before last before approval, you can submit an update application.

Parental-independent BAföG: Your parents' income is not taken into account if you

• work for 5 years after you turn 18. If you were gainfully employed for 5 years or
• completed a 3-year apprenticeship and then worked for at least 3 years
• in certain exceptional cases, if you are over 30 years old at the start of training
• Your own income, if you earn more than EUR 450.00 per month yourself
• Your own assets, if you have more than EUR 8.200

If, for example, you have basic needs of EUR 649.00 and

• you do not live with your parents
• your parents live separately and your father earned EUR 29,470 and your mother EUR 21.740 gross
• you earn EUR 400.00 per month with your part-time job and
• have no assets

you will receive EUR 87,11 due to your father's surplus income and EUR 8.14 due to your mother's surplus income will be deducted from your needs. Your EUR 400 part-time job has no effect on your BAföG rate. You will then receive a total of EUR 554.00 BAföG.

Note: The starting point for calculating your income is always the sum of your positive income. In tax law, this is the gross income minus the

• advertising costs
• flat-rate social allowance and the
• actual taxes paid, including church tax and solidarity surcharge

You can use a BAföG calculator to work out how much BAföG you will receive.

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

• have failed
• a disability
• are pregnant or have been pregnant
• have raised a child up to the age of 14
• in student self-government, are or were active in university committees or bodies, student services or student self-administration or
• have cared for close relatives

if you drop out of one degree program and start another ("change of degree program"), your new degree program can only be funded if

• the change took place in the 2nd semester at the latest
  • . semester or
  • the change takes place in the 3rd semester and there is an important reason for the change or
  • the change takes place from the 4th semester onwards and there is an important reason for the change. semester and there was an unavoidable reason for the change, for example:
    • a disability that occurred after the start of the course or
    • an allergy to certain substances that makes it impossible to continue the course or pursue the profession previously pursued

You can receive BAföG if you meet the following requirements:

• You are attending a university, an academy or a higher technical college (in the case of private training institutions, these must be state-recognized).
• You are studying full-time.
• You have German citizenship
• You come from abroad and meet the following criteria:
  • You have a permanent right of residence or a settlement permit.
  • You are a citizen of the Union and are entitled to freedom of movement under Union law as an employee or as a self-employed person or are entitled to freedom of movement yourself as a child or spouse of such a Union citizen.
  • You have the prospect of staying in Germany, for example you have a residence permit for family, humanitarian or political reasons.
  • You have already resided in Germany for 5 years or longer before starting your training and have worked during this time.
• You are younger than 30 years (Bachelor's degree) or 35 years (Master's degree) at the start of your studies.

Exceptions are:

• You have acquired your higher education entrance qualification via the 2nd educational pathway.
• You have enrolled at a higher education institution solely on the basis of professional qualifications.
• You were prevented from starting the training phase on time for personal or family reasons, in particular due to the uninterrupted upbringing of a child under 14 years of age (and did not work more than 30 hours per week) or
• you have become needy due to drastic changes in your personal circumstances. You were therefore unable to complete training eligible for BAföG funding.

Internship:

• You will receive BAföG for your studies and the internship, provided that this is prescribed by the training regulations and lasts at least 12 weeks in the case of internships abroad. For stays abroad within the EU, no minimum length of stay is required.

Note: As the legal regulations are very complex, you should contact your local education funding office in good time.

If you are spending a semester or year abroad, you can apply for additional funding for travel costs, tuition fees and health insurance abroad.

For study periods abroad in the EU, shorter stays are also eligible for funding and for stays abroad outside the EU/Switzerland, purchasing power compensation is also granted. 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 requirement is EUR 752.00 (basic requirement of EUR 427.00 plus EUR 325.00 requirement for accommodation).

BAföG can only be used to fund internships that you complete while you are in an apprenticeship that is eligible for funding under BAföG.

Only mandatory internships are eligible for funding. These are internships that are prescribed by your study regulations or training plan, i.e. that you have to do in order to complete or carry out your studies or training. Compulsory internships completed abroad are only eligible for funding if they last at least 12 weeks. Compulsory internships within EU member states are funded regardless of a minimum length of stay.

You can also receive BAföG if you complete your entire course of study in another EU country.

The student union or the financial aid department of the university at which you are enrolled.

General requirements for you to be able to apply for BAföG:

• German citizenship
• or European citizenship with permission for permanent residence
• or other foreigners or children of foreigners with a permanent residence permit
• If you are studying for a Bachelor's degree, you have not yet reached the age of 30
• If you are studying for a Master's degree, you have not yet reached the age of 35
• You do not have sufficient income or assetsto cover your living expenses during your training or studies
• It is your 1st eligible training or
• It is your 2nd eligible training program that builds on the 1st training program and is more advanced in terms of subject matter

Depending on the type of training, further requirements may be necessary.

You will need the following documents for the application:

• Application (Form 01)
• Resume
• Proof of your income and assets during the approval period
• In the case of parent-dependent funding: Form 03 and proof of income from your parents and spouse from the calendar year before last
• Proof of your tenancy
, if applicable
• Proof of health and nursing care insurance
, if applicable

You should submit the application at the latest in the month beforethe start of your training or studies, in which your training begins.

The processing time for your application is 4 to 8 weeks.

If you are studying, you will generally only receive half of your BAföG as a grant. The other half is paid as an interest-free loan that you have to pay back. You will receive the request for this from the Federal Office of Administration around 4.5 years after the end of the standard period of study.

As a rule, you must repay a maximum of EUR 10,000, regardless of the amount of your BAföG loan. An exception applies to those who received BAföG funding for the first time from 01.08.2019 or later. You only have to repay a maximum of EUR 10,010. This corresponds to 77 monthly installments of EUR 130 each. The monthly installments can also be lower if repayment is income-dependent.

If you want to pay at least EUR 500 before the start of the repayment period, you can receive a discount and have to repay less. You will receive the largest possible discount if you pay the full amount in one go before the start of the repayment period.

You do not have to pay any interest on the BAföG loan and have up to 20 years to repay it.

The amount of the monthly repayment installment is

• until 31.03.2020: EUR 105 and
• since 01.04.2020: EUR 130

The installments are paid every 3 months. This corresponds to a payment of 390 euros. If you have a low income, you can apply for a deferral of the repayment obligation of your BAföG loan or the payment of lower installments ("income-dependent repayment"). If you pay an installment more than 45 days late, reminder fees and interest will be charged.

After the repayment period of 20 years has expired, the Federal Office of Administration will automatically check whether the remaining loan debt can be waived. You can be released from the remaining debt if you

• received BAföG funding for the first time from 01.08.2019
• were financially unable to repay the BAföG loan in full and
• fulfilled your payment and cooperation obligations
during the entire repayment period

Note: Die sogenannte "Hilfe zum Studienabschluss", (auch Studienabschlussdarlehen genannt) die Sie beispielsweise bei Überschreitung der Regelstudienzeit beantragen können, müssen Sie in volle Höhe zurückzahlen. Since 01.08.2019, it has been granted as an interest-free full loan. You can obtain information on this from your responsible BAföG office.

Students do not have to pay back BAföG.

If you are a student, you can repay in writing or via the online procedure.

Written procedure:

1. About 4.5 years after the end of the standard period of study for your first BAföG-funded degree course, you will receive a letter from the Federal Office of Administration, the so-called "Assessment and Repayment Notice".
2. The letter informs you of the amount, when and exactly how you must repay the BAföG.
3. It also contains an offer for early repayment of the BAföG loan and provides information on the highest possible discount you can receive.
4. Please fill out the direct debit authorization form and send it back to the Federal Office of Administration. The installments will then be collected from your account every 3 months via a SEPA direct debit mandate.
5. If you have missed a payment deadline by more than 45 days, interest will be charged. From this point onwards, 6 percent interest will be charged annually on your remaining debt. This interest will apply until the outstanding amount is repaid in full.
6. Please remember to notify us immediately of any changes to your name or address. This will save you the cost of having your address traced (EUR 25).

Online procedure:

1. Go to the BAföG-Online Portal of the Federal Office of Administrationand register there.
2. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email. Follow the steps in the email to complete the registration.
.
3. After successful registration, you can log in with your e-mail address and password. In the portal you will find all the essential forms relating to the repayment of your BAföG loan.
4. If you log in with your electronic ID card, more functions are available to you.
5. You can, for example, view your current outstanding loan debt and your current payment plan.

Terms for repayment

Receipt of payment in the account at the Bundeskasse Halle:

• no later than 15 days after the payment date to avoid reminder costs

Note: If your payment has not been credited to the account at the Bundeskasse Halle after 45 days, you will have to pay late payment interest.

Yes. You will receive a discount on your BAföG loan if you submit a

• Partial sum over EUR 500 or
• repay the entire loan debt

Forgiveness beforethe repayment period:

You will receive the largest possible discount if you repay the entire loan debt early at once. The Federal Office of Administration will tell you how much your total loan debt is and how much money you will save if you make a single early repayment in the Feststellungs- und Rückzahlungsbescheid (FRS). You will receive this approximately 4.5 years after the end of the standard period of study.

Period of early repayment:

• From the day you receive the FSR until one day before the first installment repayment date
• The discount does not increase the earlier you make the repayment before the repayment start date

You are free to accept the offer of early repayment or to start paying in installments.

You can also receive a discount if you are only able to repay a partial amount rather than the full amount early. The partial amount must be at least EUR 500 in order for you to receive a discount. The actual payment amount is always less than EUR 500 as the discount is deducted beforehand.

Discount for repayment during the repayment period:

If you first pay off your loan in installments and then later decide to repay it early in full or in part, you can still receive a discount. However, the discount is reduced the lower the remaining loan amount is. In this case, please submit an informal application for a discount to the Federal Office of Administration. You will then receive a corresponding offer that you can accept on the specified payment date.

Note: You cannot "buy" a deferment of payment with a partial early repayment, but the repayment period will be shortened. You are still obliged to pay the regular installments according to the repayment plan.

Repayment period

You can apply for early repayment in writing or online at the Federal Office of Administration (BVA). A distinction is made between two cases for repayment:

Case 1: You have not yet started to pay off your BAföG loan:

• About 4.5 years after the end of the standard period of study, you will receive the so-called "Determination and Repayment Notice" from the Federal Office of Administration.
• The notice contains an offer for early repayment of the BAföG loan with the largest possible discount.
• You are free to decide whether to accept this offer or take up the installment payment according to the repayment plan.
• Alternatively, you can also decide here whether you want to make a one-off partial repayment (at least EUR 500) early in order to receive a discount on the loan.
• In this case, you submit an informal application to the Federal Office of Administration, either by post or via the Bafög online portal. In it, you must state when and how much you wish to repay early.
• After the BVA has reviewed your application, you will receive a notice stating the amount to be repaid early and the discount.
• In both cases, if you wish to accept the offer, you must transfer the amount stated in the notification to the account of the Federal Treasury in Halle (BUKA) by the deadline.

Case 2: You have already started to pay off your BAföG loan:

• Submit an informal application to the BVA online or in writing. In it, you must state when and how much you want to repay early.
• After the BVA has reviewed your application, you will receive a notice stating the amount to be repaid early and the discount.
• You are free to decide whether to accept this offer.
• If you accept the offer, transfer the payment amount within the period specified in the notification.

Note: With the increase in the installment from 01.04.2020, the estate table will also be changed accordingly. Exemption periods will not be taken into account in future, meaning that no discount will be granted on these installments.

Yes. If you are studying, training at school or doing an internship abroad, you can also apply for BAföG.

Funding for studies within the EU is possible until you graduate. If you are studying outside the EU, you can generally receive funding for 1 year. In exceptional cases, funding is also possible for 2.5 years.

Your tuition fees and travel expenses are also taken into account in the calculation.