Bafög for everyone – but only in “emergencies”: Left criticizes “much too complicated” traffic light plan

Created: 05/18/2022, 18:15

By: Andreas Schmid

The traffic light around Minister of Education Stark-Watzinger (FDP) wants to establish Bafög help for students in “nationwide emergencies”.

© Christian Spicker/Steinach/Imago (montage)

More money for Bafög recipients?

Students should be given more support, but only in "emergencies" such as the corona pandemic.

The left is outraged. 

Berlin - The traffic light is planning more support for students.

The federal government wants to make adjustments to the student loans, but these should only apply in special situations.

The background is the corona pandemic, which caused many young people to get into financial difficulties due to the loss of part-time jobs.

This is now to be prevented for future “supra-regional crises”.

Bafög: Government wants to provide help for students in “nationwide emergencies”.

The cabinet around Chancellor Olaf Scholz passed a draft law on Wednesday, according to which the Bundestag can determine a corresponding “nationwide emergency” and the government can then expand the group of those entitled to student loans by ordinance.

It should be prevented "that young people have to break off their training or their studies because they lost a part-time job," said Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP).

"The corona pandemic has made it clear how quickly young people can get into financial difficulties."

Especially in the first phase of the corona pandemic, many students had no additional income due to the closure of entire sectors, such as gastronomy.

In particular, those without Bafög entitlement could hardly cover their running costs.

The government reacted, among other things, with subsidies and the assumption of interest on student loans from the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW).

Legal precautions should now be taken in the event of similar crisis events.

Federal Training Assistance Act (Bafög)

Bafög is intended to give schoolchildren and students state support in their education.

Students and trainees at higher technical schools and academies usually receive half of the student loans as a grant and half as an interest-free state loan.

This means: At the end of the funding period, 50 percent must be repaid, up to a maximum of 10,010 euros.

Read here who is entitled to money from the state and which requirements apply.

Bafög: More support for students - but only in "emergencies"

It is now planned that if the emergency situation is determined, those students who are normally not eligible can also receive student loans.

Anyone who can prove their individual needs would receive the money at the general BAföG conditions, without such proof it would be paid in the form of an interest-free loan.

The exact design of the specifications is still open.

The already planned Bafög adjustment does not seem to be affected.

The "nationwide emergency situation for trainees with regard to a significant drop in demand on the labor market for jobs accompanying training" would apply for three months after the Bundestag decision.

Parliament could extend it, but it could also be lifted earlier.

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Student loans for everyone?

Left criticizes "much too complicated" traffic light plan

The Deutsches Studentenwerk (DSW) called the planned new regulation "an important structural step forward".

However, the concrete implementation was "planned too complicated".

The DSW also called for international students in Germany to be able to benefit from the emergency mechanism.

The left was critical.

"The federal government is pushing the pace with the BAföG changes, but unfortunately fast is not always good," says Nicole Gohlke, member of the Bavarian Bundestag.

"Instead of firing the next half-baked shot from the hip, the traffic light should stop and take the unanimous criticism of the insufficient increase in the requirement rates and flat-rate housing allowance seriously."

Nicole Gohlke has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2009.

In the 2021 federal election, the native of Munich was the top candidate of the Bavarian left.

© Florian Gaertner/Imago

The emergency mechanism that has now been launched is "more than overdue", but the procedure is "far too complicated".

In the event of a crisis, around 400,000 international students would get nothing, says Gohlke.

"The federal government's reform proposals for student loans ignore the realities of life for students and leave many of them to fend for themselves, even in times of crisis."