No decision yet on financial support for students

Germany’s coalition government is yet to reach agreement on supporting the many thousands of students facing financial hardship because of the lockdown measures in force to tackle the coronavirus crisis.

The Federal Education Minister Anja Karliczek favours interest-free loans for students who can no longer earn an income working in catering facilities and other service areas. Oliver Kaczmarek, the Social Democrats’ spokesperson for education, calls for support via the federal student grant system, the Bundesausbildungs-Förderungsgesetz (BAFöG).

Kazmarek argues that students affected by the crisis need “proper help”, just like other groups in society such as the self-employed and medium-sized entrepreneurs, most of whom are now receiving subsidies. He demands that a hardship fund be set up to provide students who have lost their part-time jobs with short-term BAFöG grants, a proposal that is also backed by most of the opposition parties.

But Karliczek rejects grants. “What we can’t do with at the moment is to enter a complicated law-making procedure,” she says, insisting that a solution based on loans will soon be on the way.

“It’s high time for the federal government to set up an emergency fund to create immediate support without any red tape,” says Andreas Keller, deputy chairman of the Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (Education and Science Workers’ Union). “Money should be provided as a non-repayable grant.”

The Deutsches Studentenwerk (DSW or German National Association for Student Affairs) also favours grants to make up for lost income among students in the coronavirus crisis.

According to Achim Meyer auf der Heyde of the DSW, the coronavirus pandemic is above all causing problems for students who have to take part-time jobs because their parents are earning too much for them to be eligible for the BAFöG grants.

Recent DSW statistics suggest that more than two-thirds of all students work part-time to earn a living. “If these students now have to take out a loan, as Karliczek suggests, this amounts to punishing them twice,” Meyer auf der Heyde argues. “They have lost their job and will later on have to work even more to pay back their loan.”

Michael Gardner E-mail: michael.gardner@uw-news.com