Finances
Heating cost allowance - DSW demands support from states
Heating allowance for BAföG-funded students:
Important step, but in future to focus on the entire young generation
- Deutsches Studentenwerk (DSW): Federal states must support BAföG offices in paying out the allowance without application
- DSW welcomes doubling of original €115 to €230
- DSW Secretary General Matthias Anbuhl: "Only 11 percent of students benefit; in further relief, consider the young generation as a whole".
- Today the German Bundestag wants to pass the heating cost subsidy law
Berlin, 17 March 2022 - To ensure that the one-time heating allowance paid to all BAföG-funded students without the need for an application, which the German Bundestag plans to pass today, works, the federal states responsible for enforcing BAföG must support the BAföG offices of the student unions. This is the demand of Deutsches Studentenwerk (DSW), the association of 57 Studentenwerke and Studierendenwerke that implement BAföG for students.
DSW Secretary General Matthias Anbuhl:
"We very much welcome the fact that, contrary to initial plans, the one-off heating allowance is now to be doubled to €230 and paid out to BAföG-funded students without a separate application. This is an important relief for BAföG-supported students - but these are just 11% of all students. It is important that the federal government considers the young generation as a whole when it comes to future financial relief.
The federal states, which are responsible for implementing BAföG, are responsible for the automatic, claim-free payment of the grant. In the interests of coordinated, standard administrative action, they must enable the BAföG offices of the student unions to pay out the allowance in an uncomplicated manner by adapting the three BAföG IT applications used nationwide.
The payment of the heating allowance to BAföG-supported students must not lead to even more bureaucracy in the BAföG offices."