Berlin.
The government wants to reform Bafög. Planned: More benefits, simpler applications, higher reference age. More should benefit from it.
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An institution of German education policy is to be overhauled, and quickly: the Federal Ministry of Education wants a planned one Bafög reform implement before the winter semester. This emerges from a draft for the amendment of the Federal Training Assistance Act – the official name of the Bafög – which is available to our editorial team. With a series of innovations, more people should soon be able to receive financial support for training or studying.
Access to training grant the state should “open it up again to a much broader section of the population,” as the draft says. Financial hurdles to participation in education should be leveled out “so that they are no longer felt to be insurmountable”.
Specifically, this means, among other things: More money for studentswho receive Bafög. The so-called requirement rate will be raised by around five percent, from 427 to 449 euros per month. Support for rent is increasing even more: Those who do not live with their parents will in future receive 360 instead of 325 euros for accommodation, which corresponds to an increase in the rate of around 10 percent.
Bafög: Age limit is being pushed up
Pupils who receive Bafög should also receive more money in the future. trainee For example, those who no longer live with their parents and attend night school can soon expect to pay 731 euros instead of the previous 681 euros. According to this draft, students with children would receive a child allowance of EUR 160 instead of the previous EUR 150. The increases are in response to the rising cost of living.
Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) also wants to expand the circle of those who can take advantage of the funding at all. the age limit from 30 years, which has been the case in most cases up to now, she intends to raise it significantly to 45 years. The draft states that the aim is to take account of “new educational biographies” which “are no longer as uniform as they used to be and which may only include taking up a course of study in later stages of life”.
Because students who do not start their studies directly after school have often worked for several years and saved money, the asset allowance is also to be adjusted upwards to 45,000 euros. the Income Allowances for parents would also increase according to this draft: instead of the previous 2000 euros, the income of married parents should in future only be counted towards the child’s Bafög entitlement from 2400 euros.
Studies abroad should also be supported
Unlike before, annuals should also be used courses be funded that take place entirely abroad, such as master’s courses in non-EU countries. And it should be easier to apply for funding: this can already be done online, but it must be confirmed with a signature. This requirement is now to be removed.
SPD, Greens and FDP had to reform the training grant set a goal in their coalition agreement. Among other things, higher age limits and requirement rates, as they are now planned, were already mentioned there as concrete measures.
Bafög only reaches a small part of the students
The background is the declining number of funding recipients: The Bafög, after its introduction in 1971 as success model celebrated, now only reaches a small part of the students. After a high of 979,000 Bafög recipients in 2012 (including student Bafög), the number has fallen continuously.
2020, according to the Federal Statistical Office only 639,000 people supported. “Recently, only 18.5 percent of those entitled to claim were funded, that’s almost every fifth person,” Stark-Watzinger told this editorial team before Christmas. “In view of the total number of students, this is bitter.”
The traffic light coalition wants to turn the negative trend. Not everything that the coalition agreement provides for student loans can be found in this draft law. So far, for example, there has been no reduction in the proportion of loans and no start-up support for young people from low-income families. But this should also come soon, Minister Stark-Watzinger (FDP) announced in December. With the jumpstart For example, larger financial investments should be made possible at the beginning of a course, such as the purchase of a laptop.
The first changes should be implemented quickly. The draft bill went to coordination on Thursday chancellery. This should then be followed by a vote among the departments and a cabinet decision.
So that the changes before coming winter semester If they can come into force on August 1st, they should already be decided in the cabinet on April 6th.
More articles from this category can be found here: Politics
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