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

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

In order to receive the monthly subsidy, you must meet a number of requirements. The most important are:

• Your parents and/or spouse/partner do not have a higher income.
• They themselves have little or no income, for example from a "mini-job".
• Your assets are below the allowance of EUR 15,000 up to the age of 30 or up to EUR 45,000 or only slightly above the age of 30.
• You are studying full-time.
• 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.

If you are studying, you will receive half of the funding as a loan and half as a grant. This means that you will regularly have to pay back only half of the money after graduation. In principle, you do not have to pay interest on the loan ("interest-free loan"). The maximum repayment amount is usually EUR 10,010, regardless of how high the total funding was. This corresponds to 77 monthly installments of EUR 130 each from the start of the repayment. The Federal Office of Administration is responsible for collecting loans. You do not start repaying until 5 years after the end of the maximum funding period, which usually corresponds to the standard period of study. If you do not earn enough to take out the repayment of your loan, you can apply to the Federal Office of Administration for a deferral of payment.

If you are studying, your monthly needs are made up of different parts:

• Basic requirements:
  • EUR 452.00 if you complete your education at a higher technical school, academy or college (e.g. at a university).
• Requirements for accommodation:
  • EUR 59.00 if you live with your parents or
  • EUR 360.00 if you do not live with your parents.
• If you are unable to take out health/long-term care insurance through your parents, you will receive an additional EUR 94.00 or EUR 28.00.
• If you have a child under the age of 14 who lives in your household, you will also receive a childcare allowance: EUR 160 for each child.

If you are doing a semester or year abroad, you can apply for supplements for travel expenses, tuition fees and international health insurance; in the case of study visits to the EU, stays shorter than six months are also eligible; Furthermore, you can also receive BAföG if you complete your entire studies in another EU country; in the case of stays abroad outside the EU/Switzerland, a purchasing power equalisation is also granted.

• The following amounts will be taken into account, i.e. they will reduce your BAföG requirement:
  • The income of your parents and/or spouse/partner in the penultimate year before the start of the grant 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 submit an update application.
  • Parent-independent BAföG: The income of your parents is not 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 then worked for at least three years (correspondingly longer employment in the case of shorter training).
    • In certain exceptional cases, if you are over 30 years old at the start of the training.
• Your own income, insofar as it is more than EUR 520.00 per month.
• Your own assets, insofar as they are higher than EUR 15,000 up to the age of 30 or higher than EUR 45,000 from the age of 30.

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

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

• have failed the final examination for the first time,
• have a disability,
• are or have been pregnant,
• raised a child up to 14 years old,
• are or have been active in committees and bodies of the university, the student self-administration, the student unions or the federal states as provided for by law or statutes, or
• have cared for close relatives classified at least in care level 3.

If you drop out of a course of study and start another course of study ("change of course of study"), your new course of study can only be funded if:

• the change took place in the 2nd semester at the latest, 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 onwards and there was an irrefutable reason for the change, for example:
• a disability or allergy to certain substances that has occurred after the start of training, which makes it impossible to continue the training or to pursue the profession previously pursued.

Interns:

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

Only compulsory internships are funded. These are internships that are prescribed by your study regulations or the training plan, i.e. that you have to do in order to complete or carry out your studies or training. Compulsory traineeships carried out outside the EU are only eligible if they last at least 12 weeks. Compulsory traineeships within the EU Member States can also be funded if they are shorter than 12 weeks.

You can also get BAföG if you complete your entire studies in another EU country.