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Bafög application (symbol photo)
Photo: Fernando Gutierrez-Juarez / picture alliance / dpa / dpa-Zentralbild
Fifty years ago, a new chapter began in student finance in Germany.
On September 1, 1971, the Federal Training Assistance Act, or Bafög for short, came into force.
Since then, more than 36 million people have received government funding for their time at college.
One of the first Bafög recipients was Janbernd Oebbecke at the University of Münster, then 21 years old and a law student.
SPIEGEL:
Mr. Oebbecke, 50 years ago you applied for student loans at the University of Münster.
Do you remember how you found out about it?
Oebbecke:
That was all in the newspapers at the time and was also a topic among us students.
You have already noticed.
SPIEGEL:
You have already been to university and studied law in your fifth semester.
What has changed as a result of the student loan?
Oebbecke:
For me, the
student grant made things
more relaxed, the pressure was gone.
There was an adequate sum.
I don't know exactly how much, at the beginning a little over 300 marks, I would say.
Not as a loan like later, but just like that.
I could use it to pay the rent for my furnished room and also go out for a pizza.
SPIEGEL:
How did you finance yourself before that?
Oebbecke:
I was supported by the Honnefer model, the forerunner of the Bafög, so to speak.
But there was a lot less money.
My parents supported me as best they could.
They had a small grocery store.
I was the first in the family to graduate from high school.
I also had all kinds of part-time jobs.
SPIEGEL:
What did you work as?
Oebbecke:
I come from Lüdinghausen.
During the holidays I was there with Maggi and glued two soup packets together for actions.
As a couchette coach, I drove through the republic at night and even as far as Milan.
At the student employment agency you could register for jobs on a daily basis, so I would move tires or pack shelves.
"Thanks to Bafög, my younger sister was also able to study"
SPIEGEL:
Today, the student loan application is considered complicated.
How did you feel at the time?
Oebbecke:
I know that I found it complicated, but it was definitely doable.
I went to the Studentenwerk, which is still in the same building at the University of Münster as it was back then, and the clerk there told me what was still missing.
The decision came six weeks later.
To my surprise, I got the full sentence, I wasn't expecting that.
Shortly afterwards the money was in the account.
In order to receive further funding, you had to submit your student certificate and your parents' salary statement every year.
SPIEGEL:
You later made a career at the University of Münster, where you became professor and dean of the Faculty of Law.
Would that have been possible without student loans?
Oebbecke: Absolutely
, but the
student loan
was a great relief.
Especially for my parents.
They didn't have to support me anymore.
Thanks to Bafög, my younger sister was also able to study.
Before that, it was always an issue, whether that was possible because there wasn't enough money.
SPIEGEL:
As a professor, you campaigned for adequate student loans.
How did you experience the further development of student finance?
Oebbecke:
After just a few years, the
student loan
was no longer increased
depending on
inflation. It stagnated. Not much has happened to this day. There are more and more high school graduates and more and more from non-academic households. Actually, the number of Bafög recipients should have grown disproportionately, but that is not the case. There are fewer and fewer. In addition, half of the funding now has to be repaid as a loan. This is sure to be doable for most graduates later, but it was more comfortable without a loan. I had a happy time there.