BAföG Quick Check

BAföG is the state education grant for pupils and students - half of it a grant you never repay, the other half an interest-free loan with capped repayment. The catch: whether you qualify and how much depends on a jungle of needs rates, allowances and crediting quotas. Many skip the application out of uncertainty and thereby often leave several hundred euros a month on the table.

The Quick Check models the central BAföG calculation steps as set by the 30th BAföG amendment act. It starts with the need: 475 euros base need plus a housing flat rate (59 euros living with parents, 380 euros in your own flat) plus the supplements for health and care insurance, which are higher from age 25 and from age 30. That gives your personal maximum rate, from which everything else is deducted.

The biggest lever is parental income. BAföG is generally parent-dependent: an allowance is deducted from your parents adjusted income (around 2,415 euros for a couple, more per sibling), and only 45 percent of the surplus is credited against your need. The check shows you transparently how strongly your parents income pushes down your aid - and from when nothing at all remains.

Your own income and assets count too. Up to around 330 euros earnings a month you stay exempt (the classic mini-job), above that half is credited. For assets the limit is 15,000 euros if you are under 30 and 45,000 euros from 30. The check tests these limits and warns you if your savings tip the entitlement.

Beyond the aid amount the tool answers the question everyone worries about: how much do I have to repay in the end? Only the loan (half the aid) is repayable, capped at a maximum of 10,010 euros, in instalments from around 130 euros a month, and repayment only starts five years after the end of the standard study period. For many that means a very cheap deal in the end.

Important: the Quick Check is guidance, not a decision. It replaces neither the official application at the education funding office nor advice from the student services organisation. But it takes the fear out of the form by showing in advance whether the effort is worth it. Everything runs in your browser, your numbers stay with you.