Appeal: 2023 must be the year of the BAföG reform!
With a joint appeal, six organisations, including the German Student Union (Deutsches Studierendenwerk) as the umbrella organisation of all student unions, are now addressing the Federal Government. Their demand: 2023 must be the year of the BAföG reform!
The explanation: The current multiple crises are hitting students hard. According to the 21st Social Survey of the Federal Government and the German Student Union (DSW), around 28 percent of students had less than 700 euros a month even before the Corona pandemic. Their budget is sewn on the edge - this seam is now threatening to tear as the prices for food, electricity, gas and heat have risen extremely. The federal government must tackle both a BAföG increase and the announced BAföG structural reform in 2023.
The demands:
- A significant increase in the BAföG basic requirement, the flat-rate housing allowance and the parental allowance: The federal government set the basic requirement for the citizen's income at 502 euros at the beginning of 2023. According to the government, this is the subsistence minimum. The BAföG basic requirement of currently 452 euros per month is significantly below this minimum. Students do not eat, drink and heat less than other people. They are also not second-class citizens. That is why they need to be brought into line quickly. With the BAföG flat rate for housing costs of currently 360 euros per month, one can hardly afford a room in a shared flat in almost all university towns. This flat rate must increase significantly. The parental allowance must also be adjusted in 2023 so that more than 11 percent of all students can receive BAföG.
- A real BAföG structural reform: according to the Federal Government's BAföG report, almost 40 percent of all students have no chance of receiving BAföG in the first place - and this is completely independent of how little money they have - because they have changed their field of study or study for too long. This shows: BAföG has not been adapted to the changed realities of life over a long period of time. The Federal Government must therefore implement the requirements of the German Bundestag of 23 June 2022 (e.g. study start-up assistance).
The senders:
Matthias Anbuhl, Chairman of the Board of the German Student Union (DSW):
"Students are up to their necks in the crisis. They must not be expected to accept a zero increase in BAföG."
Carlotta Eklöh, board member of the fzs (federation of student unions):
"The breadth of our alliance shows that student poverty must finally be taken seriously by politicians. We agree: the BAföG structural reform is long overdue and, especially due to the current inflation, we urgently need a significant adjustment of the requirement rates this year!"
Lea-Marie Neufeld, member of the federal board of the Juso university groups:
"A delayed one-off payment in no way solves the deep-seated problem of poverty among students! We need a real BAföG reform this year that guarantees crisis stability within the framework of a multi-layered emergency mechanism'."
Niklas Nottebom, deputy federal chair of the Ring Christlich-Demokratischer Studenten (RCDS):
"The federal government's grand announcements about a realignment of BAföG must now be followed by action. Students have been stalled for too long and are increasingly falling into financial hardship, which in no way does justice to our society's promise of education and advancement."
Johanna Weidmann, associate member of the Campusgrün federal board:
"BAföG needs a structural change. The requirement rate must adapt to the real cost of living in an unbureaucratic way."
Benjamin Kurtz, Federal Chair Liberale Hochschulgruppen:
"BAföG one-off payments and energy flat rates are a drop in the ocean. The financial situation of students cannot be improved by arbitrary one-off payments, but a structural reform of BAföG is necessary."
