DSW: Strengthen BAföG, utilize all budget funds

• Matthias Anbuhl, Chairman of the Board of Deutsches Studierendenwerk, today as an expert in the Bundestag Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment
• Anbuhl: "The data from summer 2021 on the economic and social situation of students already shows the enormous pressure to act on BAföG"

Berlin, 21 February 2024: For Matthias Anbuhl, Chairman of the Board of Deutsches Studierendenwerk (DSW), the data from the 22nd Social Survey from the summer of 2021 shows how great the pressure to act on BAföG was even then.  According to Anbuhl, it is all the more important that the Federal Ministry of Education and Research uses the full 150 million euros provided by the Budget Committee of the German Bundestag for 2024 for BAföG, including an increase in the benefit rates and the BAföG housing allowance.

The enormous price increases, especially for energy, rents and food, which have since been triggered by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, which was unforeseeable in summer 2021, have greatly exacerbated the financially strained situation of a good third of students, said Anbuhl at today's public meeting of the Bundestag Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment. Anbuhl has been invited to the meeting as an expert.

He explains:
"The data for the 22nd Social Survey on the economic and social situation of students was collected in the summer of 2021, when the coronavirus pandemic was subsiding and war, inflation and the price crisis were not foreseeable. The data must be viewed against this background.

And there is a polarization in the financial situation of students: While a quarter of all students are properly supported and have more than 1,300 euros a month at their disposal, more than a third of students have less than 800 euros a month. This is 60 euros less than Düsseldorf Tabelle stipulated for parental maintenance for students living away from home at the time of the survey in summer 2021. For this good third of students, the situation has become extremely difficult since then.

The pressure to act is immense, especially when it comes to BAföG. The most recent BAföG increase from the 2022/23 winter semester has long since been eaten up by inflation.

The Bundestag Budget Committee has recognized this and has earmarked 150 million euros for the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, including for an increase in BAföG rates. However, according to the BMBF's draft bill for a 29th BAföG amendment, only 62 million euros of this is to be used. This is incomprehensible and urgently needs to be corrected, either in the federal cabinet or by the parliamentarians.

If the draft bill remains as it is, BAföG would continue to stagnate at the level of fall 2022 in terms of the rates of need and the flat-rate housing allowance. While there are automatic adjustments to housing benefit, pensions, citizens' allowance and MPs' salaries, there is still no such automatic adjustment for BAföG. This means that the central state instrument for educational equality is being left behind.

The money is also available to increase the BAföG benefit rates and the flat-rate housing allowance. It must be used for this purpose.

For the BAföG amendment to be successful, it is also imperative that the BAföG offices of Studierendenwerke are better equipped in terms of personnel, finances and IT. This is a challenge for the federal states in particular.

It is also annoying that real administrative simplification is not being tackled. The well-intentioned and understandable study start-up aid is far too complicated and, in this form, would lead to considerable additional work for the BAföG offices. The Federal Government must also revise the draft on these points."

The most important points from the 22nd social survey online

DSW statement on the BMBF draft for a 29th BAföG amendment

You can find this press release online