Anyone who wants to study can – even without wealthy parents: that’s what BAföG stands for. But it often takes months for the application to go through. And if the money is there, it is not enough for many people. That could be unconstitutional.
When Anna Thewalt thinks about last October, she says, the panic arises again. Her account was empty, as was the refrigerator. She couldn’t sleep at night.
Last May, the 22-year-old architecture student from Trier submitted her BAföG follow-up application. She has been receiving 812 euros per month since starting her studies, the maximum rate. “I couldn’t study without it,” she says. But the decision was “once again” a long time coming. And with it: the urgently needed money.
Thewalt is not an isolated case. This is shown by a non-representative survey of 2,698 students from last November via the tagesschau Instagram channel. A good third of the students surveyed wait up to five months for the BAföG decision, and some even longer. More than 60 percent of those surveyed do not know what they will live on during this time.
The BAföG rates are negotiated in court
Caroline from Hamburg also says the same thing. The bachelor student does not want to give her last name for fear of problems with the BAföG office. She also receives the maximum rate because her parents cannot support her financially. “I haven’t paid rent in months. I’m in overdraft until the end,” she says. Even if the money comes at some point, BAföG without a part-time job is not enough.
That could violate the constitution – at least according to Hamburg lawyer Joachim Schaller. His client, a former psychology student, sued in 2014/15 against the basic BAföG requirement that was in effect at the time. Since then, the lawsuit has gone through several instances. In 2021, the Federal Administrative Court upheld a violation of the guarantee of a training-related subsistence minimum. The BAföG rates are now being examined by the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe.
One in three students lives below the poverty line
Politicians have also recognized the need for action. “We are bringing BAföG back into the future and adapting it to the reality of the 20th century,” Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger promised in a Bundestag speech in July 2022.
The reality: Only about one in ten students gets BAföG. At the same time, every third student lives below the statistical poverty line – i.e. has less than 1,251 euros per month.
The 27th amendment to BAföG, which came into force in August 2022, brought the first adjustments: allowances were increased, and basic needs and the flat-rate housing allowance also increased. But inflation and energy prices followed suit. The bottom line is that students were left with 30 euros more per month.
Applications are piling up in the offices
The federal government has promised further reform steps. The coalition agreement states that BAföG should become more independent of parents – and less bureaucratic overall. The non-representative shows that this would relieve the burden on many students daily News-Survey from last November: A good one in three students surveyed said they needed between three and five weeks to process their application. Nine out of ten of the students surveyed did not manage to submit all of the required documents.
This significantly increases the processing time for applications, according to inquiries from the BAföG offices in Hamburg and Trier. The staff is currently scarce. And a digital file that could simplify processes: still far from being introduced.
More money for the BAföG reform
For 2024, the Ministry of Education will have 150 million euros more available for BAföG. “A one-day victory on a difficult stage,” according to the German Student Union. What exactly can be achieved with the sum is still unclear. “The federal government has not yet completed its vote on further reform content in BAföG,” says a spokesman for the Ministry of Education. So for many students it still means: wait.