Federal Education and Training Assistance Act
Bundesausbildungsförderungsgesetz (BaföG)
The Act establishes a legal right to assistance for education and training which is to be in line with an individual’s inclination, aptitude and performance, when funding is not otherwise available to the trainee.
Training and education assistance is granted for attendance at:
- higher schools of general education and vocational colleges including all grades above grade 10 in all types of basic vocational training,
- all technical college and specialised technical academy grades when attendance does not depend on a completed vocational training course (with the eligibility proviso in case of assistance pursuant to § 2 subs. 1 a),
- all vocational and technical college grades when attendance does not require a completed vocational training course and when the completion of a training course of no less than two years ends in a vocational training certificate,
- all technical college and specialised technical academy grades when attendance requires a completed vocational training course,
- classes at night grade schools, advanced professional training schools, night secondary schools, night grammar schools and technical colleges,
- higher technical colleges and academies,
- universities and polytechnics.
The Act determines the personal requirements for education and training assistance and lays down the duration and scope of such assistance, which is granted for individual subsistence and training. The Act also determines the type of education and training assistance. Assistance is granted as a non-refundable grant or loan. The Act also determines the means of repayment in case of loans.
With the draft Amendment of the Federal Education and Training Assistance Act (Änderung des Bundesausbildungsförderungsgesetzes, 22. BAföGÄndG) of July 2007, the Federal Government wishes to increase the educational effectiveness of federal education and training assistance. The introduction of a childcare supplement, in particular, is intended to facilitate the reconciliation of training and education on the one hand and childcare on the other; the integration of young individuals with a migration background is improved; the trainee’s own responsibility is strengthened by raising the earnings threshold to a uniform amount of EUR 400, and the internationality of education and training is enhanced by extending the assistance’s scope to courses of study abroad.
The purpose of these changes is to improve the individual’s education and training opportunities and to contribute to a secure supply of junior professionals and skilled employees in Germany. The draft legislation is also meant to contribute to a further reduction in bureaucracy in the execution of the Federal Education and Training Assistance Act.
The amendment of Volume III of the Social Code, which resulted from the 22nd Amendment of the Federal Education and Training Assistance Act, includes a definition of the groups eligible for assistance. These groups include: Germans, nationals of other Member States of the European Union, spouses and children of citizens of the European Union, nationals of other signatories of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Area, foreign nationals with a habitual residence in Germany, homeless foreign nationals pursuant to the Act on the Legal Situation of Homeless Foreign Nationals in the Federal Republic of Germany, as well as other foreign nationals with habitual residence in Germany.
The Federal Education and Training Assistance Act creates a uniform foundation nationwide for an individual’s education and training assistance in view of assuring equal opportunities in the German education system.
The website www.das-neue-bafoeg.de of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung) includes the text of the Federal Education and Training Assistance Act as well as rules, examples, the texts of related Acts, the necessary information and the forms (application forms) needed to apply for assistance.
