DSW: High rent burden for students

Little money and high rents: Students under pressure

• New figures from the Federal Statistical Office on the income situation and housing cost burden of students
• Federal Statistical Office: Half of students with their own household have a net equivalent income of less than 867 euros per month
• 54% of student income for rent - 25% for the population as a whole; the majority of student households are considered overburdened
• DSW Chairman Matthias Anbuhl: "BAföG must reach far more students than before"
• Anbuhl on the rent burden: "Only study where I can afford the rent - this is a new form of social selection"
• DSW praise for the federal-state program "Young Housing"; states must now implement vigorously
  
  

Berlin, 28 August 2024 - For Deutsches Studierendenwerk (DSW), the new figures from the Federal Statistical Office on the income situation and housing cost burden of students are further proof that there is great pressure to act beyond the recent increase in BAföG.

In a press release issued today, 28 August 2024, the Federal Statistical Office presents new data from 2023 on the income and housing situation of students and trainees who run their own households.

According to the data, half of students with their own household have a net equivalent income of less than 867 euros per month. Almost half of their income comes from parental support and BAföG. 54% of disposable household income is spent on rent; according to the Federal Statistical Office, the majority of student households are therefore considered to be overburdened.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, 35% of students are at risk of poverty; the relative risk of poverty among students is generally higher than in the population as a whole.

Matthias Anbuhl, Chairman of the DSW Executive Board, comments on these figures:
"The new figures from the Federal Statistical Office confirm the well-known findings from the 22nd Social Survey on the Economic and Social Situation of Students, conducted in summer 2021. Even then, 34% of students had to get by on less than 800 euros a month. That is 60 euros less than Düsseldorfer Tabelle set as a guideline for parental maintenance at the time.

The new figures show how great the pressure to act on BAföG remains, even beyond the 29th BAföG amendment, which will take effect this winter semester 2024/2025. While the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court has stated that 930 euros per month has been available for parental support since 2023, BAföG students of the same age will have to make do with 812 euros per month until the start of the 2024/2025 winter semester; it will only be 855 euros per month in two weeks' time.

BAföG now only reaches 12% of students. The Federal Statistical Office complains that a much larger proportion of students can barely make ends meet financially. Many more students must therefore be able to benefit from BAföG. We urgently need a further, massive increase in BAföG parental allowances.

The BAföG flat-rate housing allowance must also be increased more. At 380 euros per month from this winter semester, it still falls short of the reference value of 410 euros per month in Düsseldorfer Tabelle e for parental maintenance. And 380 euros per month is hardly enough for a room in a shared flat on the open market in any German university city.

The choice of university depends more and more on whether I can afford the rent in the city. This is a new form of social selection!

It is not surprising that a large proportion of student households are considered overburdened according to the Federal Statistical Office. The lack of affordable housing for students is and remains a glaring structural deficit. The federal-state program 'Young Housing' launched last year can provide some medium and long-term relief; it is an important signal from the federal government to people studying and training that it sees their housing needs. The federal states must now vigorously implement this program.

However, BAföG is still awaiting a major boost and fundamental structural reform. The core of this reform must be the automatic adjustment of allowances and requirement rates to the development of prices and income as well as the direct payment of child benefit to adult students and trainees."

Press release of the Federal Statistical Office