Bafög offices have to print out applications – sometimes with extra staff

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Application for real paper: »Here a process is not digitized from A to Z«

Photo: IMAGO/Zoonar.com/Stockfotos-MG / IMAGO/Zoonar

The situation is absurd, says Matthias Anbuhl, Secretary General of the German Student Union, at the annual press conference on Thursday.

Students can now submit their Bafög application online - but when the authorities process it, they have to print it out: "Here, a process is not digitized from A to Z," criticizes Anbuhl.

This leads to extra work and frustration.

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In some offices, additional staff was hired, "really only for printing," says Anbuhl.

The offices are currently busy anyway, partly because they are responsible for paying out the two heating subsidies for eligible Bafög recipients that the federal government has initiated.

Several months of waiting

Many students are now waiting longer for the first BAföG payment.

According to the ARD and ZDF program "Funk", which first reported on the misery of digitization, the waiting time was sometimes several months.

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Anbuhl called for the entire process to be digitized, including e-files, e-notifications and an encrypted portal for queries.

The Coronahilfe for students has already shown that this is possible.

The countries that have formed working groups are responsible for implementation.

The Studierendenwerk demanded a fundamental reform of the Bafög from the federal government so that more students could receive the support again.

In addition, the rate must be increased further and the amount adjusted annually to reflect price developments.

With the Bafög amendment, the federal government has “already taken a step in the right direction.

But more must follow," said Rolf-Dieter Postlep, President of the German Student Union.

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