The number of so-called Germany scholarship holders fell slightly last year - for the first time since 2011. In the previous year, a good 28,000 students received the monthly cash injection.
That was 0.3 percent less than in 2019. The Federal Statistical Office announced on Wednesday.
The Deutschlandstipendium of 300 euros per month is intended to support particularly talented students.
The program is funded half by the federal government and half by private donors.
According to the law, up to eight percent of students should receive a scholarship - but in fact the funding rate in the 2020/21 winter semester was just 1.0 percent.
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Federal Minister of Education Anja Karliczek made every effort on Wednesday to interpret the numbers positively anyway.
The scholarship is "reliable even in times of crisis," says the CDU politician.
Its students at 310 universities throughout Germany have received funding; more than 8100 private donors have made this possible.
Overall, according to Karliczek, donations of over 226 million euros have been received since the program was introduced ten years ago: "The Deutschlandstipendium has firmly established itself in the university landscape and in society."
Achim Meyer auf der Heyde, on the other hand, comes to a completely different assessment.
"Unfortunately, the program has been standing still for years," said the Secretary General of the German Student Union to SPIEGEL.
"We are still a long way from a really broad culture of scholarships for students in Germany."
Politicians must now finally reform the student loan as a basic instrument of student financing and adapt it to the life and study reality of the students, said Meyer auf der Heyde.
"The Bafög is five times as old as the Deutschlandstipendium, it should be strengthened and celebrated at least five times as intensely."
him / AFP