- Financing of the Studierendenwerke: funds from students account for 78 percent of revenues, subsidies from the federal states less than 10%
- New publication by the German National Association for Student Affairs (DSW) on the financing and services of the Studierendenwerke in 2024
- DSW Chair Matthias Anbuhl: “If the federal states do not provide stronger support for their Studierendenwerke, equal opportunities and social participation are at risk”
- Anbuhl: “The Studierendenwerke form the social foundation of the German higher education system”
Berlin, 1 December 2025. While funds from students account for 78 percent of the revenues of the non-profit Studierendenwerke, the federal states contribute less than 10 percent with their subsidies. The German National Association for Student Affairs (DSW), the umbrella organisation of the Studierendenwerke, criticises this development in a new publication.
The association calls on the federal states to provide more public support for the Studierendenwerke, both for financing ongoing operations and for investments.
DSW Chair Matthias Anbuhl explains:
“The Studierendenwerke enable education, participation, and equal opportunities with their services. They are the social foundation of the German higher education system. This foundation is in danger of crumbling if the federal states do not finally provide stronger financial support for their Studierendenwerke.
Unlike universities, the state subsidies of the federal states no longer even amount to 10 percent of the Studierendenwerke’s budgets. Essentially, it is the students who finance the social services of the Studierendenwerke – on the one hand through the revenues from dining halls and cafeterias as well as rental income from student residence halls, and on the other hand through their social or Studierendenwerk contributions.
In addition: despite steadily rising costs, public funding for the Studierendenwerke has hardly increased in nominal terms in recent years. The lower the level of support provided by the federal states, the more the Studierendenwerke are forced to finance themselves through higher cafeteria prices, higher dormitory rents, and higher Studierendenwerk contributions.
This runs counter to the ‘DNA’ of the Studierendenwerke, and it is at the expense of the students, whose financial and economic situation is already strained. According to the Federal Statistical Office, 50 percent of students have less than 930 euros per month at their disposal and live under precarious conditions. Their budget is stretched to the limit, and this seam is at risk of tearing with further financial burdens.
The Studierendenwerke urgently require more public support – in the interest of the students, in the interest of participation and equal opportunities. Access to higher education must not depend on the parents’ income.”
The Studierendenwerke in figures
Provision of services for around 2.45 million students at more than 200 university locations, with around 19,000 employees:
- 194,942 affordable and student-appropriate residence hall places
- 893 dining halls, cafeterias, restaurants, bistros, coffee bars with 227,221 seats, annual turnover 2024: 412 million euros
- 2.503 billion euros in BAföG payments to students in 2024 on behalf of the federal government and the federal states
- Loan funds offering low-interest graduation loans or hardship loans for students in financial difficulties at 54 Studierendenwerke
- 8,785 places in 189 childcare facilities
- special housing offers for students with children
- accommodation services, i.e. provision of rental offers from private landlords to students at 42 Studierendenwerke
- wheelchair-accessible residence hall places at 53 Studierendenwerke
- 52 Studierendenwerke with psychological counselling specifically for students
- 45 Studierendenwerke with social counselling centres
- student residence tutor programmes for the social and academic integration of international students in the residence halls at 38 Studierendenwerke
- 33 Studierendenwerke support student cultural groups
“Studierendenwerke im Zahlenspiegel 2024/2025” for download:
https://www.studierendenwerke.de/fileadmin/user_upload/241106_DSW_Zsp2324_web.pdf
You can find this press release online at:
https://www.studierendenwerke.de/beitrag/laender-muessen-die-studierendenwerke-finanziell-staerker-unterstuetzen