In the Corona year 2020, students obtained more loans to finance their studies.
The conditions are currently favorable - but there are also reminders.
Gütersloh - The federal government's corona emergency aid has caused a surge in student loans.
That comes from the student loan test 2021 of the Center for University Development (CHE) in Gütersloh.
The number of new loans rose by more than 60 percent to 53,000 in 2020.
A total of 90,000 students in Germany currently receive money from a student loan or education fund.
This corresponds to a share of three percent.
According to the authors, the number of new loans has reached the level of 2015. Between 2014 and 2019, the number had halved.
According to the study, the main drivers are the state KfW student loans.
The market leader booked more than three quarters of all new contracts for itself.
In the previous year, 2019, there were 18,000 deals at the Reconstruction Loan Corporation alone; in 2020 there were around 40,000.
KfW is a state development bank.
Loan offer also for foreign students
The study cites changed contract modalities as the reasons.
The KfW student loan could be used interest-free until the end of 2021.
In addition, due to Corona, students from abroad were able to use the loan for a limited period for the first time.
16,000 students without a German passport took advantage of this.
That is a share of 30 percent for new contracts.
The CHE authors are critical of this.
“The KfW student loan should act as a state alternative to the Corona emergency aid for everyone who is neither eligible for BAföG nor covered by the - rather bureaucratic - bridging aid.
Now we have to state that the KfW student loan has turned out to be a pseudo giant, ”says CHE expert Ulrich Müller.
The head of political analysis at CHE speaks of one-off effects.
Overall, the test classifies the current offers as “serious and well designed” throughout.
The categories of access, capacity, costs, risk limitation and flexibility were evaluated.
Many of the 51 student loans, student loans and education funds examined achieved top results in several areas.
According to information from the credit providers, banks and education funds are currently distributing around 48 million euros a month to students.
That is an average of 528 euros per person.
"The sword of Damocles over the professional future"
"The KfW student loan is not a support, but a sword of Damocles over the professional future of students," said the university policy spokeswoman for the Left in the Bundestag on the student loan test.
Nicole Gohlke speaks of a debt trap.
"The fact that students have to flee back to their parents during the corona crisis or are desperately looking for stable part-time jobs reveals the urgency of opening BAföG," says Gohlke. In this historical crisis one should have fundamentally reformed the student loan, so the Bundestag member of the left. dpa