Poverty risk among students: BAföG is failing to keep pace with the cost of living

More than one in three students in Germany is affected by poverty.

JOINT PRESS RELEASE

  • Paritätischer Gesamtverband
  • Deutsches Studierendenwerk

More than one in three students in Germany is affected by poverty. The poverty rate is particularly high among students who live alone: 82.4 per cent are affected by poverty, more than five times the rate in the population as a whole. At the same time, they have to spend almost half of their available income on housing, measured at the median. These are the findings of the new briefing paper Poverty while studying: Income, housing costs and support rates put to the reality check, published jointly by the Paritätischer Research Unit, the Paritätischer Gesamtverband and the Deutsches Studierendenwerk.

With a median income of €900 and median housing costs of €461, students living alone have just €439 left, on average, to cover all their other living expenses. That is less than the current BAföG basic needs allowance of €475. Students who live in shared accommodation exclusively with other students or trainees are also seriously affected: their poverty rate is 70.4 per cent. This extreme financial pressure is therefore no marginal issue affecting only a small group.

“The findings show the financial hardship faced by many students. People should be able to devote their energy to lectures, seminars and exams. Instead, students are worrying about whether their money will last until the end of the month,” said Dr Joachim Rock, Chief Executive of the Paritätischer Gesamtverband. “Almost half their income goes on housing, and what is left is not even enough to meet the BAföG basic needs allowance. This affects eight in ten students who live alone, and the situation in shared accommodation is far from comfortable either.”

The current BAföG housing allowance of €380 does not cover the actual housing costs of students living alone, which are already €81 higher at the median. The increase planned by the federal government—to €440 from 1 April 2027—would still fall short of the €461 identified in the study. The planned increase in the basic needs allowance is also taking a long time: it is due to rise first to €503 in the winter semester of 2027/28 and then to €563 only in the summer semester of 2029, based on a basic income-support level that will by then already be five years old.

“After more than six months of political uncertainty, the Bundestag and Bundesrat must urgently pass the 30th BAföG reform,” said Matthias Anbuhl, Chair of the Deutsches Studierendenwerk. “The gradual alignment of the BAföG basic needs allowance with basic income support will finally establish a mechanism to prevent BAföG from once again falling behind price increases for years, as the new study demonstrates. The same must apply to the BAföG housing allowance. At the same time, BAföG must become simpler, faster and more digital. That will allow it to realise its full potential.”

The study shows how little BAföG currently covers the actual costs of students living alone. On average, only 13.8 per cent of their income comes from education-related grants such as BAföG, while 43.1 per cent comes from their own employment alongside full-time study. Both organisations are also concerned about the planned cut to the housing supplement for students receiving BAföG who live with their parents. It is due to fall from €59 to €41 and be abolished altogether from 2029, even though living at home also involves real housing costs—costs that particularly affect families on low incomes.

There is also a structural problem: BAföG reaches far fewer students than it used to. The average monthly number of students receiving support fell from around 440,000 in 2012 to just under 300,000 in 2025—a decline of almost one third. In 2024, only one in nine students received BAföG. Even among those who were in principle eligible, the figure was only one in six. Many students who qualify for support do not apply for it.

The Paritätischer Gesamtverband and the Deutsches Studierendenwerk jointly call on the federal government to raise the basic needs allowance more quickly to a level that ensures students can meet their living costs, set the housing allowance at a realistic level, and permanently link both benefits to actual cost increases, for example by using the Düsseldorf Table as a benchmark. The housing supplement for students living with their parents should be expanded, not abolished.

Access to BAföG must also be made simpler and easier, so that support once again reaches more eligible students. Both organisations welcome the federal government’s plans for an AI-supported BAföG chatbot and an AI-based application assistant on the BAföG online application portal, bafoeg-digital.de.

Download the study:
https://www.der-paritaetische.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Expertise_ARM_IM_STUDIUM_2026_Parit%C3%A4tischer_Gesamtverband.pdf