BAföG-ABC

Accommodation Certificate

To prove that you live outside of your parent’s home, the presentation of an accommodation certificate is required.

Advance Payments

If the parents of the applicant refuse to pay alimony, an advance payment may be requested. The Financial Support Agency will then calculate the amount that the parent should have paid, and will try to get it back. The parents should expect maintenance claims. If the parents refuse to produce the necessary documents that are required for these calculations, the same procedure will be used. If you would like to make a request for advance payment, please use Form 8/Information Sheet for Form 8.

Appeals

An appeal can be made against a decision from the Financial Support Agency within a month of the decision. Please note that an appeal must always be submitted by post or fax and with your signature! As a reaction to an appeal, a new decision (a remedy) will follow, or if there is no possible remedy, an appeal decision can be brought up before the administrative court.

Approval Period

The approval period is the period for which you receive the grant. Usually the period lasts for twelve months. After that, you must submit an application.
Note: Always submit your follow-up application two or three months before the end of your current approval period.

Assets

The assets of the parents and spouse are not taken into account. The students' own assets are taken into account if the asset allowances are exceeded. If the credit is taken into account, the BAföG funding will be reduced due to the amount of assets. You can find current information on the amount of asset allowances

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Basic Funding

You can find information about the amount of basic funding, regardless of whether you live with your parents or independently, at

www.bafög.de

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. You can also find information about subsidizing health and long-term care insurance contributions.

Change of Major

A change of major is any change of your target study or combination of subjects. Before any change, you should visit the advisors in the Financial Support Agency.

Change of University

Changing your university, although harmless as long as you do not change your major, should be thought through thoroughly. Oftentimes, the benefits of your old college are not recognized by your new one. It is entirely possible that your proof of performance won’t be submitted, or your studies cannot be completed within the maximum funding period. Therefore, before any change, you should always consult the Financial Support Agency.

Childcare Allowance

Students who are raising one or more children while studying can receive a child allowance at the provision rate. You can find more detailed information at

www.bafög.de

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Consultations

Due to the pandemic, we currently do not offer any personal advice. Please use the telephone office hours or write an email to bafoeg@sw-ka.de. We will inform you in good time when we can advise you personally again.

For general questions, you can contact us in the BAföG Service Office (in Karlsruhe in the beratungsWERK in the dining hall Am Adenauerring (Opening hours of the Service Office) or your personal consultant (during their office hours).

Cooperation

Cooperation means that all documents that are required for a decision on your application are submitted within the set deadline or at least one reason is given for why this would not be possible. Lack of cooperation may lead to a rejection of your application (Rejection according to § 66 SGB I).

Disbursement

BAföG is always carried out at the end of a month for the next month: at the end of September for the month of October etc. If technically possible, additional payments are also paid out in the middle of the month.

Exceeding the maximum funding period

Exceeding the maximum funding period for serious reasons is possible under certain conditions, for example due to illness, participation in legally stipulated committees of the universities, etc., first-time failure of the final examination, disability, pregnancy or the care and upbringing of a child up to ten years old. Other reasons are possible, please seek advice from the Financial Support Agency. For reasons of disability, pregnancy and the care and upbringing of a child up to 14 years old, 100% of the funding amount is granted as a grant, for the remaining reasons 50% as a grant and 50% as an interest-free loan. There is also assistance with completing your studies, which can be approved as a full loan interest-free for a maximum of 12 months. If the conditions are met, funding beyond the maximum funding period for serious reasons and subsequent assistance with completing your studies can be combined.

Follow-up application

From September 18th, 2020 you have the option to use Form 09/(instead of Form 01) for follow-up applications. The Studierendenwerk Karlsruhe reserves the right to request further explanations and proofs.

Funding Number

Your funding number is very important to the Financial Support Agency. This number makes it possible to assign each process to a certain application. Please always specify this number!

Graduating

Your graduation or end of studies should be reported immediately to the Financial Support Agency. Student financial aid will not be given after the following month and therefore must be refunded if benefits were still being granted.

Hardship Allowance

A hardship allowance can be received through an application, and is used, for example, in the case of someone in your family being recognized as severely disabled. The application must be submitted before the end of the approval period. This allowance decreases your corresponding income, and thus increases the amount of funding.

Income

All your revenue during the period of approval has to be stated which may lead to a reduction of your grant.
Furthermore, your spouse’s/life partner’s as well as parents’ income from the last year has to be submitted.
If the income of your spouse / partner as well as your parents is currently less than the one from last year, you can additionally request an update (Form 07), which can lead to an increase of the grant.

Internship

Please always declare an internship to your Financial Support Agency without being asked to do so.
Income from the internship is treated differently than income from a part-time job.
In the case of a compulsory internship, which is required of you by the university, the weekly working time is not relevant. Just submit a copy of your internship contract.
Regarding a voluntary full-time internship during the lecture period, you don’t qualify for funding for the duration of the internship. Please also submit a copy of your internship contract. In the case of a voluntary internship that is completed outside the lecture period, e.g. during the semester break, you are still entitled to BAföG, only the income from the internship will be taken into account. Please submit a copy of your internship contract here as well.

Jobs

During an approval period you can earn up to the statutory maximum limits without the BAföG being reduced. Please note that you should not work more than 20 hours per week during the lecture period. But be careful, intern salaries are calculated differently! Please ask your consultant. You can find information about the earning limit at

www.bafög.de

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Leave of Absence

It is necessary to report a leave of absence to the Financial Support Agency. Normally you cannot receive BAföG for these. Gap semesters, however, are not counted to the standard period of study.

Life Partners

With the 23rd BAföG amendment, which took effect in October 2010, life partners and spouses are considered the same. These are defined as only registered life partners (same-sex).

Maximum Funding Period / standard period of study

The maximum funding period is determined by the standard period of study. For Bachelor degrees, it is 6 to 7 semesters, for masters 2 to 4 semesters, and for the University of Education 6 to 8 semesters. For a few programs (mostly double degrees), the period could last 9, 10, or more semesters. Extension of this period is possible under certain conditions. In order to cushion the special hardship of studying under pandemic conditions, the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg decided on 24. 06. 2020 that the standard period of study for all students enrolled in the summer semester 2020 will be individually extended once. The prerequisite is that the maximum funding period has not yet reached at the end of February 2020 or the end of March 2020.

Notice

If you have applied for a grant and your application has been processed, you will receive a letter by post. On this you can see all the information about the calculation, the amount of your educational support, the duration of the payment, etc.

Notice of change

You must inform the Financial Support Agency of any changes within your approval period: for example, if you change your field of study, discontinue or end your studies, or if one of your siblings ends or discontinues his or her studies/training/school.

Parent-independent Funding

There is normally a parent-related grant, for details please contact your respective consultant. A parent-independent funding is only given under special circumstances. For example, if the applicants are 30 years old or have been employed for at least 5 years and therefore earn enough money by the start of their studies, or have completed vocational school and have worked at least three years thereafter, but the training plus work together must equal six years.
The parent-independent funding is checked automatically and does not have to be requested.

Proof of Performance

A proof of performance will normally be required after your fourth semester. It certifies the "usual performance" at this time and is issued by the respective university.
For some programs, the required ECTS credits are available to the Financial Support Agency has, so that a proof of performance with indication of the ECTS credits from your online account is sufficient. Alternatively, you can also submit Formb 5 as proof of performance.
Under certain circumstances, submission of the certificate of performance may also be allowed later, see here: Illness and Exceeding the maximum funding period.
As a result, students entering the fifth semester in winter semester 20/21 must submit their proof of peformance by the upcoming summer semester 21. Summer semester 20 is not taken into account in the semester counting. You will therefore be granted training funding for one semester without presentation of proof of achievement. Please note that the positive proof of achievement (Form 5 or Transcript of Records) over 4 semesters must be submitted for the next grant period. For this purpose, a complete application for further funding must be submitted in good time.

Rental Subsidy

There is none. The amount of the rent does not matter. The only difference is whether students live with their parents/parents or not with their parents. See Basic Funding.

Sickness

If sickness leads to a hindrance in your studies, that can be a reason for a later presentation of your proof of performance, or for an extension for your maximum funding period. Your funding will also be extended up to three calendar months during your sickness.

Studying Abroad

If you would like to receive an educational grant for your semester abroad, you must submit an application to the responsible Financial Support Agency (List of responsible agencies). The Financial Support Agency in Karlsruhe is responsible only for the domestic applications. Please let us know if you intend to spend a semester abroad, as we may have to adjust your domestic license period.

Update Request

In order to process your application for training support, we also need documents from your parents, for example the income of your parents. For administrative reasons, the income of the penultimate calendar year of your parents is always used to calculate your educational support. However, if your parents are currently earning less, for example because a parent or both is retired / unemployed, etc., you can additionally submit an update request (Form 07) and for the calculation we use the current income instead of the income from the penultimate calendar year.