BAföG-ABC

To prove that you live outside of your parent’s home, the presentation of an accommodation certificate is required.

Additional services can be granted for basic needs under certain conditions. These conditions include:

Subsidies for sickness (84€/month) and long-term care (25€/month)
Under certain circumstances for study abroad programs, an abroad supplement for health insurance may be granted, as well as partial refund of your travel fees and tuition. For students with children, there is also an additional child care allowance.

If the parents of the applicant refuse to pay alimony, an advance payment may be requested. The Financial Support Agency will then calculate the amount that the parent should have paid, and will try to get it back. The parents should expect maintenance claims. If the parents refuse to produce the necessary documents that are required for these calculations, the same procedure will be used. If you would like to make a request for advance payment, please use Form 8/Information Sheet for Form 8.

An appeal can be made against a decision from the Financial Support Agency within a month of the decision. Please note that an appeal must always be submitted by post or fax and with your signature! As a reaction to an appeal, a new decision (a remedy) will follow, or if there is no possible remedy, an appeal decision can be brought up before the administrative court.

The approval period is the period for which you receive the grant. Usually the period lasts for two semesters. After that, you must submit an application.
Note: Always submit your follow-up application two or three months before the end of your current approval period.

We do not factor in the assets of your parents and spouse. Assets of the applicant will be credited, if they exceed certain allowances. Sums up to 8,200€ will not be credited.

The basic funding is 483,00 € per month if students live with their parents. The basic funding increases to 752,00 €per month if you do not live with your parents. If you have your own health and / or nursing insurance, the funding increases again; for the health insurance 84 € / month and for the nursing insurance 25 € / month. In total up to 861 €!

Each change of circumstance within your funding period must be reported to the Financial Support Agency immediately: e.g. if you change your major, drop out or finish your studies or one of your siblings finishes their studies / training / school or drop out.

A change of major is any change of your target study or combination of subjects. Before any change, you should visit the advisors in the Financial Support Agency.

Changing your university, although harmless as long as you do not change your major, should be thought through thoroughly. Oftentimes, the benefits of your old college are not recognized by your new one. It is entirely possible that your proof of performance won’t be submitted, or your studies cannot be completed within the maximum funding period. Therefore, before any change, you should always consult the Financial Support Agency.

From the winter semester 2019/2020, the childcare allowance amounts to 140 Euro per month for each child and is available to young mothers and fathers as long as they live in a household with at least one child under the age of 14 during their funding. If both parents receive funding, only one of them will receive the child allowance.

Due to the pandemic, we currently do not offer any personal advice. Please use the telephone office hours or write an email to bafoeg@sw-ka.de. We will inform you in good time when we can advise you personally again.

For general questions, you can contact us in the BAföG Service Office (in Karlsruhe in the beratungsWERK in the dining hall Am Adenauerring / in Pforzheim in the dining hall Tiefenbronnerstrasse) beraten lassen (Öffnungszeiten Beratungsbüro) or your personal consultant (during their office hours).

Cooperation means that all documents that are required for a decision on your application are submitted within the set deadline or at least one reason is given for why this would not be possible. Mistakes in cooperation may lead to a rejection of your application (Rejection according to § 66 SGB I).

BAföG is always carried out at the end of a month: at the end of September for the month of October etc.

An extension of your maximum funding period is possible under certain circumstances; for example, because of sickness, cooperation in statutory bodies of the university and similar cases, first time failure to pass final exams, disabilities, pregnancy, or the care and education of children up to 10 years old. Further reasons are possible, but seeking advice for these would be essential. A combination with a graduation funding is provided in the law. In cases of disability, pregnancy, and the care and education of a child, the funds will be given in entirety as a grant. For any other reason, the funds will be given as 50% grant and 50% interest-free loan. Also see Interest.

From September 18th, 2020 you have the option to use Form 09/(instead of Form 01) for follow-up applications. The Studierendenwerk Karlsruhe reserves the right to request further explanations and proofs.

Your funding number is very important to the Financial Support Agency. This number makes it possible to assign each process to a certain application. Please always specify this number!

Your graduation or end of studies should be reported immediately to the Financial Support Agency. Student financial aid will not be given after the following month and therefore must be refunded if benefits were still being granted.

A hardship allowance can be received through an application, and is used, for example, in the case of someone in your family being recognized as severely disabled. The application must be submitted before the end of the approval period. This allowance decreases your corresponding income, and thus increases the amount of funding.

All your revenue during the period of approval has to be stated which may lead to a reduction of your grant.
Furthermore, your spouse’s/life partner’s as well as parents’ income from the last year has to be submitted.
WIf the income of your spouse / partner as well as your parents is currently less than the one from last year, you can request an update (Form 7), which can lead to an increase of the grant

The interest on interest-bearing loans is 0,72 % (October 2017), and will be adjusted every six months.
Interest-free loans will only be offered through graduation funding or if you are pursuing a dual degree.

Please always declare an internship to your Financial Support Agency without being asked to do so.
Income from the internship is treated differently than income from a part-time job.
In the case of a compulsory internship, which is required of you by the university, the weekly working time is not relevant. Just submit a copy of your internship contract.
Regarding a voluntary full-time internship uring the lecture period, you don’t qualify for funding for the duration of the internship. Please also submit a copy of your internship contract. In the case of a voluntary internship, which is only scheduled for up to 20 hours / week, you will still be entitled to funding; only the income from the internship will be credited. Please also submit a copy of your internship contract.

During the approval period of twelve months, you may earn approximately € 450.00 gross per month from non-self-employment (approximately € 5,400.00 / year) without affecting your funding. During the lecture period, however, you cannot work more than 20 hours / week.
But attention: internship compensation will be charged differently! Please ask your consultant.

It is necessary to report a leave of absence. Normally you cannot receive BAföG for these. Gap semesters, however, are not counted.

With the 23rd BAföG amendment, which took effect in October 2010, life partners and spouses are considered the same. These are defined as only registered life partners (same-sex).

The maximum funding period is determined by the standard period of study. For Bachelor degrees, it is 6 to 7 semesters, for masters 2 to 4 semesters, and for the University of Education 6 to 8 semesters. For a few programs (mostly double degrees), the period could last 9, 10, or more semesters. Extension of this period is possible under certain conditions. In order to cushion the special hardship of studying under pandemic conditions, the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg decided on 24. 06. 2020 that the standard period of study for all students enrolled in the summer semester 2020 will be individually extended once. The prerequisite is that the maximum funding period has not yet reached at the end of February 2020 or the end of March 2020.

If you have applied for a grant and your application has been processed, you will receive a letter by post. On this you can see all the information about the calculation, the amount of your educational support, the duration of the payment, etc.

There is normally a parent-related grant, for details please contact your respective consultant. A parent-independent funding is only given under special circumstances. For example, if the applicants are 30 years old or have been employed for at least 5 years and therefore earn enough money by the start of their studies, or have completed vocational school and have worked at least three years thereafter, but the training plus work together must equal six years.
The parent-independent funding is checked automatically and does not have to be requested.

A proof of performance will normally be required after your fourth semester. It certifies the "usual performance" at this time and is issued by the respective university. For some programs, the required ECTS credits are available to the Financial Support Agency has, so that a proof of performance with indication of the ECTS credits from your online account is sufficient. Alternatively, you can also submit Formb 5 as proof of performance.
Under certain circumstances, submission of the certificate of performance may also be allowed later, see here: Illness and Exceeding the maximum period of support.
As a result, students entering the fifth semester in winter semester 20/21 must submit their proof of peformance by the upcoming summer semester 21. Summer semester 20 is not taken into account in the semester counting. You will therefore be granted training funding for one semester without presentation of proof of achievement. Please note that the positive proof of achievement (Form 5 or Transcript of Records) over 4 semesters must be submitted for the next grant period. For this purpose, a complete application for further funding must be submitted in good time.

Students who do not live with their parents and whose apartment is not owned or partially owned by their parents, receive a higher funding, instead of the basic 483,00 € (living with the parents), the funding is € 744.00. The rental subsidy is paid regardless of the rent. Please submit the certificate of accommodation as proof that you live away from home.

If sickness leads to a hindrance in your studies, that can be a reason for a later presentation of your proof of performance, or for an extension for your maximum funding period. Your funding will also be extended up to three calendar months during your sickness.

If you would like to receive an educational grant for your semester abroad, you must submit an application to the responsible Financial Support Agency (List of responsible agencies). The Financial Support Agency in Karlsruhe is responsible only for the domestic applications. Please let us know if you intend to spend a semester abroad, as we may have to adjust your domestic license period.

In order to process your application for training support, we also need documents from your parents, for example the income of your parents. For administrative reasons, the income of the penultimate alendar year of your parents is always used to calculate your educational support. However, if your parents are currently jearning less, for example because a parent or both is retired / unemployed, etc., you can submit an update request (Form 7) and for the calculation we use the current income instead of the income from the penultimate calendar year.