Applying for educational support for pupils (Schüler-BAföG)

You can receive financial support for your school attendance or an internship if your parents do not have a higher income or if you have already been working independently of your parents for a longer period of time. This support is called BAföG.

BAföG is the abbreviation for Federal Training Assistance Act. BAföG is the colloquial term used to describe the funding that you can receive under this law. You will receive the funding to finance

• your school attendance or
• under certain conditions of a mandatory internship as part of your school attendance.

To receive the monthly subsidy, you must meet a number of requirements. The main ones 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 tax-free allowance of EUR 15,000 up to the age of 30 or EUR 45,000 or only slightly above the age of 30.
• You are aiming for your school-leaving certificate full-time.
• Age limit: 45 years of age (exceptions may apply)

The amount of your BAföG depends on a fixed monthly requirement. Money will be deducted from this need if your parents, spouse/partner, or yourself earn a little more.
As a pupil, you will receive financial support as a subsidy. You don't have to pay anything back.

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

• If you live with your parents:
  • EUR 421 if you attend a technical school class, the attendance of which requires completed vocational training, an evening grammar school or a college,
  • EUR 262 if you attend a vocational school or a technical school that you can attend without having completed vocational training, or
  • EUR 474 if you attend an evening secondary school, vocational training school, evening secondary school or technical secondary school class, which you can only attend if you have completed vocational training.
• If you don't live with your parents:
  • A total of EUR 632 if you attend a general secondary school, a vocational school or a technical secondary school that you can attend without having completed vocational training, or
  • A total of EUR 736 if you attend an evening secondary school, vocational training school, evening secondary school or technical secondary school class, which you can only attend if you have 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 for each child.

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

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

• 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 are separated and
  • EUR 1,605 for a potential spouse/partner.
  • A further 50% of the parents' income determined in this way - as well as an additional 5% for each sibling in ineligible education - remain exempt from deduction
  • Note: If your parents or spouse/partner currently earn significantly less than in the year before the grant was granted, you can submit an update application.
  • 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 three years of training and then worked for at least three years (in the case of shorter training, correspondingly longer employment).
    • In certain exceptional cases, if you are over 30 years old at the start of the training
• Your own income if it is more than EUR 520 per month.
• Your own assets, insofar as they exceed EUR 15,000 up to the age of 30 or EUR 45,000 from the age of 30.

Note: The starting point for calculating income is generally the sum of 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.

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

Interns:

BAföG can only be used to fund internships that you complete while you are in an apprenticeship that is eligible for BAföG funding.
Only compulsory internships are funded. These are internships that your training plan prescribes, so you have to do them 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 traineeships within EU Member States can also be funded if they are shorter than twelve weeks.

Federal Ministry of Education and Research

Trainees at evening grammar schools, colleges, colleges and academies: Office for Educational Support of the city or district administration at the location of the training institution

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

• Completed application
• Certificate from the school or training centre
• If applicable, a copy of the
  • Id
  • Passports or
  • current residence permit
• If you don't live with your parents: copy
  • of the rental agreement, or
  • of the registration certificate
• If you do not have family insurance: Proof of health and long-term care insurance with legal basis and amount of contributions
• If applicable, proof of your own income during the approval period, for example
  • Payroll, part-time job, contract for work,
  • Orphan's pension notice,
  • Scholarship notification or
  • Riester Pension Certificate
• Proof of assets or debts on the day of application, such as bank statement
• If you have a car:
  • estimation of the value, e.g. printout from a website with a comparable offer, and
  • Motor vehicle registration document.

Depending on the case, further documents may be required. Please follow the instructions in the application forms. The BAföG office responsible for you will request missing documents.
 

Forms available: Yes
Written form required: No
Informal application possible: No
Personal appearance required: No

Online services available: Yes

• As a pupil or trainee, you attend one of the following types of school:
  • secondary school of general education and vocational school (including classes of all forms of basic vocational education and training) from grade 10 onwards, if you are unable to live with your parents because of your education,
  • Vocational and technical secondary school class (without completed vocational training), if you cannot live with your parents,
  • vocational school class or technical school class (without completed vocational training), if it provides a vocational qualification in a course of study lasting at least two years,
  • Technical and technical secondary school class (with completed vocational training),
  • Evening Secondary School, Vocational Training School, Evening Secondary School, Evening Grammar School and College or
  • a college of higher education or an academy that awards a degree that is not equivalent to a university degree under Land law,
  • You attend school full-time.
  • You are a foreigner and, for example:
    • have a right of permanent residence or a settlement permit,
    • are citizens of the Union and, as employees or self-employed persons, are entitled to freedom of movement under EU law, or are themselves entitled to freedom of movement as the child or spouse of such a Union citizen,
    • have the prospect of remaining in Germany, for example a corresponding residence permit for family, humanitarian or political reasons, or
    • have already resided in Germany for 5 years or more before the start of the training and have worked during this time.

Hint:

Since the legal regulations are very complex, you should contact your responsible office for educational support at an early stage.

Internship:

You will receive BAföG for the internship, provided that it is prescribed by the training regulations and lasts at least 12 weeks for an internship outside the EU. In the case of stays abroad within the EU, shorter internships can also be funded.
 

• Usually objection
• Appeal before the Administrative Court

If you would like to apply for BAföG for your school education online:

• Register with BAföG Digital and create a "simple" user account.
• Fill in the form data fields online using the application assistant and send your data electronically to the responsible office.
• As an alternative to creating a user account with BAföG Digital, you can also register using the online ID function of your identity card.

If you want to submit the application in paper form:

• Go to the BAföG website and download the application forms that apply to you. Alternatively, you can also pick up the applications from your local office for educational support.
• You can fill in and print the forms on the computer or print them out and fill them in by hand. At the end of the application form, you will need to enter your name.
• Add the necessary supporting documents.
• Send the completed application forms with the supporting documents directly to the Office for Educational Assistance responsible for you.

The Office for Educational Support checks the documents for completeness. If documents are missing, they will be requested. If the application is complete, it will be examined and the decision will be notified by notice.
 

There is no deadline, but BAföG is only granted from the start of your training, but at the earliest from the month in which you apply. If you submit your application as completely as possible, then a decision on your application can usually be made quickly.

If the complete documents are available,

• the necessary determinations have not been made by the Office within 6 calendar weeks, or
• payments are not made within 10 calendar weeks,

the Office shall make an advance payment of up to four-fifths of the expected monthly requirement.

There are no costs.

There are the following tips:

• False or incomplete information or failure to notify changes may result in criminal prosecution or a fine as an administrative offence. Amounts unduly paid may be recovered.
• They must immediately notify the Office of Training in writing of any change in the economic situation as well as in their family and educational circumstances. This includes, for example, if your income changes, you change education, drop out, quit or if your siblings do so.
• If the conditions are met, the information provided on income or assets can be verified by comparing data with the competent authorities.

Further information: