BAföG

BAföG can help with living and training costs when you meet the eligibility rules and do not otherwise have the necessary means. For higher education, the usual award is half grant and half loan, with exceptions.

In short

• BAföG is a legal claim if you meet the Act’s conditions and do not otherwise have the means for living and training costs. Ask the funding office to calculate your monthly amount.
• A residence permit for study under section 16b is not in section 8(2). Not every foreign student is eligible.
• At a Hochschule, half of the monthly higher-education amount is a loan unless an exception in section 17 applies.
• A tolerated stay qualifies under section 8(2a) only after at least 15 months of uninterrupted lawful, permitted, or tolerated stay, and only with permanent residence in Germany.
• A parent’s three-year work route also requires the six-year window and the other conditions in section 8(3).
• Section 10(3) withholds funding if the training section begins on or after the 45th birthday, unless a statutory exception in that subsection applies. The training section must generally begin before the 45th birthday.
• From the fifth subject semester, section 48 generally requires performance proof (Leistungsnachweis) for funding. Qualifying proof of the previous semester’s performance submitted within the first four months of the following semester is treated as submitted at the end of the previous semester; the office can also permit a later certificate in qualifying cases. The pending 30th amendment bill proposes abolishing that proof. It is not law, and its transition would retain existing proof obligations in the cases explained below.
• The standard higher-education loan under section 17(2) is an interest-free state loan under section 18. Repayment begins five years after the end of the maximum funding period, at a minimum of 130 euros a month. After 77 monthly instalments at the rate section 18(3) requires, the remaining debt is released. At the minimum of 130 euros, those 77 instalments are 10,010 euros.

What you need to know

Section 8 decides who is inside the personal scope. It includes Germans, specified Union citizens and their listed family members, foreigners with a settlement permit or an EU long-term residence permit, Union citizens whose earlier German employment was substantively connected with the training, EEA nationals on the same conditions, recognised refugees with more than a temporary right to stay, and homeless foreigners under the statute the section names.

Other foreigners receive assistance if they have their permanent residence in Germany and hold a residence title the section lists. Section 8(2) number 1 includes, among others, titles under sections 22, 23(1), (2), or (4), 25(1) or (2), and 28 of the Residence Act.

Family titles under section 30 or sections 32 to 34 qualify under that number when the sponsoring foreigner holds a settlement permit or an EU long-term residence permit. Where the sponsor instead holds a temporary residence permit, those family titles fall under number 2 and require at least 15 months of uninterrupted lawful, permitted, or tolerated stay, as do the other titles that number lists.

A residence permit for study under section 16b is not in section 8(2). Tolerated people qualify under section 8(2a) after at least 15 months of uninterrupted lawful, permitted, or tolerated stay, if they have their permanent residence in Germany.

Section 8(3) is a further route: five years of the person’s own residence and lawful work before the funded part of the training, or a parent who during the six years before that start spent three years in Germany and was lawfully working. This page does not restate every number of section 8. Read the number that matches the title you hold.

Section 17 says assistance is a grant, with the exceptions in that section. For higher specialised schools, academies and Hochschulen, and for a related internship, half of the monthly amount is paid as a loan. That half-loan rule does not apply to the supplement for proven necessary tuition fees, to assistance paid beyond the maximum duration under section 15(3) number 5, or to the childcare supplement.

In the overrun cases section 17(3) lists, the assistance is only a loan, with the exceptions written there, including the childcare supplement. Sections 12 and 13 set statutory need rates for school pupils and students; ask your funding office how they apply to your monthly award.

Section 10(3) withholds funding when the trainee has already turned 45 at the start of the training section for which funding is claimed, unless one of the exceptions in that subsection applies. The training section must generally begin before the 45th birthday.

Section 48 generally requires performance proof (Leistungsnachweis) for funding from the fifth subject semester at a higher specialised school, an academy, or a Hochschule. The accepted proof can be a qualifying intermediate examination, an institution’s certificate of the usual progress, or qualifying ECTS credits.

If the proof is submitted within the first four months of the following semester and shows the performance was achieved in the previous semester, section 48(1) treats it as submitted at the end of that earlier semester.

Under section 48(2), the funding office may permit a certificate to be presented later if the facts would probably justify funding beyond the maximum period under section 15(3) or an extension of that maximum under section 15a(3). Ask the office to assess your circumstances; deferral is not automatic.

The 30th amendment bill proposes abolishing that proof. The bill is not law, so section 48 still applies. The bill would retain the old performance-proof rules until the end of the training section for people who had to submit that proof before 1 April 2027.

The half of a higher-education award that section 17(2) pays as a loan is a state loan. Section 18(2) says that loan bears no interest. If a payment is more than 45 days late, the outstanding amount can bear interest under that subsection.

For this standard loan, the first instalment is due five years after the end of the maximum funding period. Repayment is in equal monthly instalments of at least 130 euros. Once 77 monthly instalments have been paid at the rate section 18(3) requires, section 18(13) releases the remaining debt. At the minimum instalment of 130 euros, 77 months are 10,010 euros. A loan-only award under section 17(3) follows the different repayment start in section 18(5).

Section 45 names the Amt für Ausbildungsförderung. The opening rule follows the parents’ permanent residence, with the exceptions in section 45(1). For a state Hochschule, section 45(3) makes the office established at that Hochschule competent for the students enrolled there. The Länder can extend that competence. If the office sits at a Studentenwerk, the Land sets its area. Apply to the office section 45 assigns, not to a private website that uses the letters BAföG in its domain.

What to do

1. Check the conditions in sections 1 and 8. The claim exists only on the Act’s terms, and only if the means are not otherwise available. Look for the part of section 8 that matches your nationality or residence title.
2. Do not assume a study permit under section 16b is enough for section 8(2). It is not one of the residence purposes listed in section 8(2). Check the 15-month route and the work route in section 8(3) only if their conditions match you.
3. If you are at a Hochschule, expect half of the monthly higher-education amount to be a loan, unless one of the exceptions in section 17 applies. Ask the office to explain any exception and calculate your award.
4. Contact the intended institution’s competent Amt für Ausbildungsförderung or Studentenwerk early, before enrollment if necessary, and ask how to submit a valid application in time. Do not automatically wait for the enrollment certificate. Section 15 normally allows payment only from the course-start month, and no earlier than the application month. Section 46 requires a written or electronic application, and it requires the facts needed for the decision to be stated on the prescribed forms. The BAföG office at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz currently accepts, for the people it serves, a handwritten signed statement that an application is being made, and it still needs all forms and documents before its final decision. That filing practice is this office’s. Follow the channel your competent office accepts and keep proof of receipt.

Common mistakes

• Treating every foreign student as eligible. Section 8 is a list, and section 16b is not on the list in section 8(2).
• Treating the whole higher-education award as a grant. Section 17 makes half of it a loan, with the exceptions it writes.
• Using a parent’s three-year work route without the six-year window and the other conditions in section 8(3).