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Snuggle up warm at home: The support for heating costs will come much later than announced
Photo: Westend61 / Getty Images/Westend61
The majority of eligible students have not yet received the first flat-rate heating fee that was decided in the spring.
The money has so far been paid to 122,271 students, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) said when asked by the CDU/CSU parliamentary group.
SPIEGEL has the answer.
According to the information, these are about 40 percent of student Bafög recipients who are entitled.
"All of the approximately 300,000 students who are eligible will receive the payment by the end of the year at the latest," the ministry said.
The money will come much later than announced: it should actually end up in the students' accounts by summer.
The traffic light coalition had decided in March that those entitled to Bafög and trainees would receive a heating subsidy of 230 euros.
It will be "transferred to the account in the summer, when the heating costs or ancillary cost bills are usually due," the federal government explained in the spring.
According to the BMBF, the reason for the late payment is that the federal states initially had to transfer responsibility to the Bafög offices after the law came into force.
»Every euro helps the students get through the winter«
In the meantime, the federal government has already decided on a second flat-rate heating fee of 345 euros for Bafög recipients who no longer live at home and trainees, which, according to the BMBF's FAQ, is to be paid out "at the end of 2022 or beginning of 2023".
The Secretary General of the German Student Union welcomed the decision on Thursday.
"Every euro helps, every additional help is important so that the students get through the winter," said Matthias Anbuhl.
It is important, however, »that this second heating subsidy is paid out quickly«.
There are already delays in the payment of the flat-rate aid for all students.
According to SPIEGEL information, the one-off payment of 200 euros that students are to receive as part of the relief package will probably not be paid out until the beginning of January at the earliest.
"In the current crisis, the minister is putting one castle in the air after the other to support students," criticizes education policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Thomas Jarzombek, Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP).
In the case of the flat-rate heating fee, the circle of those entitled is also very small.
So far, less than four percent of the almost three million students in Germany have benefited from the flat-rate energy price.
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