Commenting on the Federal Government’s agreement on BAföG, Matthias Anbuhl, Chairman of the Executive Board of the German National Association for Student Affairs (DSW), said:
“After months of uncertainty and waiting, today’s agreement by the Federal Government on concrete increases and improvements to BAföG is a positive and important signal. Students need reliability, and this agreement must now be implemented as promised. The government's back-and-forth over BAföG must come to an end.
However, there is one major disappointment. The BAföG housing allowance will most likely not be increased until the 2027 summer semester, rather than the 2026/27 winter semester as originally promised. Current students are the ones who will bear the consequences. They will have to get through another semester with an inadequate housing allowance of €380, despite facing a rental market where average rents are significantly higher. The average cost of a room in a shared flat across Germany has already reached €512 per month.
The coalition agreement's commitment to introducing an automatic adjustment of BAföG income allowances, as well as aligning the basic BAföG living allowance with the level of Germany’s basic social security benefits, is an important step. It will ensure that BAföG is adjusted regularly and predictably rather than depending on the political climate. Students receiving BAföG support should no longer feel like second-class citizens who are expected to manage with less money for essentials such as food, heating or daily living.
Here, too, however, there is a drawback. These improvements will be introduced in two stages, meaning that the full subsistence minimum will not be reached until the 2029 summer semester. Once again, the current generation of students will miss out.
The planned abolition of the requirement to provide proof of academic progress after the fourth semester removes an outdated element of the BAföG system dating back to the pre-Bologna era.
The Government has also now firmly committed to simplifying the BAföG system. While this may not sound particularly exciting to the general public, it is extremely important for creating a more straightforward and efficient application process. Both students and the BAföG offices operated by the Studierendenwerke will benefit from these improvements.”