BAföG is the abbreviation for Federal Training Assistance Act. BAföG is colloquially referred to as the funding that you can receive under this law. You will receive the funding for financing

• 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 spouse/partner do not have a higher income.
• You yourself have no or only a low income, for example from a "mini-job".
• Your assets are below the allowance of EUR 15,000 up to the age of 30 or EUR 45,000 from the age of 30 or only slightly higher.
• You are aiming for your full-time school leaving certificate.
• Age limit: 45 years (exceptions are possible)

The amount of your BAföG depends on a fixed monthly requirement. Money is deducted from this need if your parents, spouse/partner or yourself earn a little more.

As a student, you will receive the financial support as a grant. You don't have to pay anything back.

In principle, if you want to obtain a vocational qualification or a further school leaving certificate, you can receive BAföG. If you attend a general education school, however, this only applies from grade 10 and only if you cannot live at home (for example, because you cannot complete the desired degree nearby).
The monthly requirement for pupils is:

• if you live with your parents:
  • EUR 421.00 if you attend a technical school class whose attendance requires a completed vocational training, an evening grammar school or a college,
  • EUR 262.00 if you attend a vocational school or a technical school that you can attend without completing vocational training, or
  • EUR 474.00 if you attend an evening secondary school, vocational training school, evening secondary school or technical secondary school class that you can only attend with completed vocational training.
• if you do not live with your parents:
  • A total of EUR 632.00 if you attend a secondary general education school, a vocational school or a technical secondary school that you can attend without completing vocational training, or
  • A total of EUR 736.00 if you attend an evening secondary school, vocational training school, evening secondary school or technical secondary school class that you can only attend with completed vocational training.
• If you have a child under the age of 14 who lives in your household, you will also receive a childcare supplement: EUR 160.00 for each child.

Even if you spend a year abroad during your school years, you can receive BAföG. In the case of a stay abroad, surcharges are granted to the travel costs for the outward and return journey.

The following amounts are credited, i.e. they reduce your BAföG needs:

• The income of your parents and/or your spouse/partner in the penultimate year before the start of the authorisation period if it is higher than the allowance. The allowance is:
  • EUR 2,415 if your parents live together,
  • EUR 1,605 per parent if your parents live separately and
  • EUR 1,605 for a possible spouse/partner.
  • Note: If your parents or spouse/partner are currently earning significantly less than in the penultimate year before approval, you can apply for an update.
  • Parent-independent BAföG: Your parents' income will not be taken into account if you
    • have been employed for five years after reaching the age of 18, or
    • have completed a three-year apprenticeship and have been employed for at least three years thereafter (correspondingly longer employment in the case of shorter training).
    • In certain exceptional cases, if you are over 30 years old at the beginning of the training
• Your own income, as far as it is more than EUR 520.00 per month.
• Your own assets if they are higher than EUR 15,000 by the age of 30 or higher than EUR 45,000 from the age of 30.

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

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

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

If you attend an evening high school or college, you will receive parent-independent BAföG. That is, the income of your parents is not taken into account in the calculation.

Interns:

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

Only compulsory internships are funded. These are internships that your training plan prescribes, so you have to do in order to complete or carry out the training. Compulsory traineeships completed outside the EU are only eligible if they last at least 12 weeks. Compulsory internships within the EU Member States can also be funded if they are shorter than twelve weeks.