- The German Student Union (DSW) warns: The choice of where to study risks becoming dependent on your wallet because of the rent
- New study on student housing costs by the Moses Mendelssohn Institute in cooperation with the portal WG-gesucht.de
- Examination of rental costs in 90 university towns with more than 5,000 students
- Average rent for a room in a shared apartment is 479 euros per month – BAföG flat-rate housing allowance: 360 euros per month
- DSW CEO Matthias Anbuhl: “It is a scandal that the Federal Ministry of Education does not want to increase the flat-rate housing allowance in the 29th amendment to BAföG.”
Berlin, March 20, 2024.
Matthias Anbuhl, CEO of the German Student Union, explains the new study by the Moses Mendelssohn Institute (MMI) on the average rental costs for students:
“The lack of affordable housing is the central social issue in university towns. The new MMI study shows: With the BAföG housing allowance of 360 euros per month, you can hardly afford an average shared room in any German university town - let alone in high-priced cities such as Munich, Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg or Frankfurt Main.
We are now experiencing a new form of social selection: the question of which university I can study at depends more and more on whether I can actually afford the rent in the city. The freedom of the young generation is so severely restricted. This is an educational policy misery.
And it is a social and educational policy scandal that the Ministry of Education is planning a zero round of flat-rate housing allowances for BAföG for the upcoming amendment to the law. Parliament must boldly correct the inactive ministry here. The funds are available in the budget. But the minister only wants to invest 62 of the 150 million euros planned for the BAföG reform in the education budget. The remaining funds are apparently set to expire.
We also urgently need additional affordable housing for students and trainees. The federal-state program 'Young Living', which was launched last year, provides an important impetus here. Many states – such as Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia, North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin and Hamburg – use this program to invest heavily in young living. Now the other federal states have to follow suit.
The most affordable form of living outside of the parents' house remains the dormitory in the Studentenwerk, with an average rent of 280 euros per month. But the heating transition presents student unions with major challenges. A heating replacement is necessary for almost 40 percent of their approximately 200,000 dormitory places. Rents will only remain affordable if this is accompanied by very good government support. And the cities urgently need to approach the student unions when it comes to municipal heat planning.”
The Moses Mendelssohn Institute (MMI), together with the portal WG-gesucht.de, examined the average rental costs for students for a shared room on the open market in all 90 university cities with more than 5,000 students. On average they amount to 479 euros per month. The MMI writes: “The BAföG housing allowance is still 360 euros, which is not even enough for an average room in 73 cities. The lower price segment is already above this level in 45 cities.”
The study online: moses-mendelssohn-institut.de/aktuelles/WohnkostenSoSe2024
This press release online: www.studierendenwerke.de/teil/mietkosten-fuer-studierende-eine-neue-form-der-socialen-auslese