The housing allowance for Bafög recipients who do not live with their parents was originally set to rise from 380 to 440 euros starting in the winter semester. Now this step has been delayed by six months, according to the responsible education policy experts from the Union and SPD. The reason is an agreement reached as part of the major Bafög reform stipulated in the coalition agreement.
The coalition agreement of the CDU, CSU, and SPD had indeed provided for an increase in the housing allowance starting in the winter semester, but it included a funding caveat. “All measures in the coalition agreement are subject to funding availability,” it states. The now-agreed delay affects only this part of the reform.
The so-called Bafög basic needs allowance for students, currently at 475 euros, is to rise as planned in two steps: to 503 euros in the winter semester 2027/28 and to 563 euros in the summer semester 2029. In addition, a reliable mechanism for adjusting the funding rates to the basic subsistence level will be introduced, according to SPD sources.
Wiebke Esdar, deputy chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group, emphasized that after intensive negotiations, all agreed-upon benefit improvements had been secured. SPD research policy expert Oliver Kaczmarek stated that the reform means more money, more reliability, and less bureaucracy for students. Inge Gräßle (CDU), deputy chairwoman of the Union parliamentary group, pointed to the overall economic situation: the expansion of state benefits cannot be viewed in isolation from it.
In 2024, the Federal Statistical Office counted around 612,800 Bafög recipients – the lowest figure since the year 2000. Among them were 483,800 students and 129,000 school pupils. In total, about 2.9 million people are enrolled in higher education in Germany, while around 11.5 million pupils attend school.
Source: Stadt München
