Ausbildungsförderung

As a trainee (pupil or student), you can receive benefits under the Federal Training Assistance Act (BAföG) if your training is eligible for assistance and if the funds required for your living expenses and your training are not otherwise available to you.

Aim of the training assistance

The aim is to give all young people the opportunity to complete the training that suits their abilities and interests, irrespective of their social and economic situation.

Examination by the Office for the Promotion of Training

After you have submitted a BAföG application, the responsible Office for the Promotion of Training will check whether the intended training can be promoted. It often makes sense to seek advice from the Office for the Promotion of Training before submitting your application.

Calculation of individual support

The calculation of your individual support is based on lump sums for your monthly needs. The amount of your grant depends on whether you are attending school or studying and on your place of residence and place of training. Your own income and assets as well as the income of your parents will be counted towards your need. If you are married, the income of your husband or wife will be taken into account. This also applies to registered civil partnerships. If you have at least one child under the age of ten living in your household, you can receive a childcare allowance for each child in addition to the BAföG benefits calculated for you.

In exceptional cases, you will also receive the education allowance regardless of your parents' income.

The documents required for the application can be found at www.bafög.de.

Funding is only possible if you have not yet reached the age of 30 at the start of the training or the age of 35 in the case of Master's degree courses. Only in the cases expressly mentioned in the law (§10 Para. 3) can you also be funded beyond this age limit.

You can find further information on the requirements for support under the BAföG on the Internet at www.bafög.de.

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Once you have submitted the application together with all the necessary documents to the relevant Office for Education Grants or submitted it electronically, the Office will decide on the amount of the grant and you will receive a written decision.

The benefits according to the BAföG will be granted to you from the month of application, at the earliest, however, from the beginning of the training.

On the website www.bafög.de you will find, in addition to the text of the law, the application forms, information on electronic application, the Länder directories of training centres for eligible training, a nationwide directory of the offices for training assistance as well as exemplary BAföG calculations.

Information on other possibilities of financial support for studies is also available at www.bafög.de.

As a trainee (pupil or student) you can receive benefits according to the Federal Training Assistance Act (BAföG) if your training is eligible for assistance and if you do not otherwise have the necessary funds for your living expenses and your training.

The BAföG hotline can help you on 0800-223 63 41. It is available free of charge from Monday to Friday 8 am to 8 pm.

For pupils:

The offices for training assistance of the districts or independent cities are responsible for student support according to the BAföG in Germany. For trainees at evening classes, colleges, higher technical colleges and academies, the Office for Training Assistance in whose district the training institution is located is responsible. For all other pupils, the Office for Training Assistance of the city/district administration in the parents' place of residence is generally responsible.

For students:

For student support according to the BAföG in Germany, the student services of the universities at which enrolment has taken place or will take place are responsible.

For education abroad:

For foreign funding according to the BAföG, central foreign offices in Germany are responsible -- depending on the destination country -- for both students and pupils. You can find the right international office at www.bafög.de .

On the website www.bafög.de you can search for the Office for the Promotion of Education that is responsible for your funding.

The forms required for an application for benefits under BAföG can be found at www.bafög.de .

The BAföG forms are also available from the offices for the promotion of education.