Hamburg - Students hardly ever make use of state aid
Compared to other federal states,Hamburg's students make hardly any use of state aid to finance their studies. According to a study by the CHE Center for Higher Education Development, almost 87 percent of the more than 100,000 students financed themselves through temporary and part-time jobs or were supported by their parents. Only 13.1 percent used state aid. This is the lowest figure in Germany after Thuringia. According to the data, Saxony recorded the highest figure at 23.7 percent. The national average is 16.2 percent. On average, students need between 900 and 1000 euros per month to finance their living costs.
When it comes to the most important state instrument for supporting students - BAföG with a maximum funding rate of 934 euros per month - Hamburg is even in last place according to the check study"Student Financing in Germany 2023". Last year, only 10,499 students received BAföG in the Hanseatic city. This corresponds to 8.8 percent of all students. The highest funding rates were achieved in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony with 17.8 and 18.3 percent respectively. The national average was 11.5 percent.
The Hanseatic city is also at the lower end of the scale when it comes to the Germany Scholarship - 30,491 students nationwide receive 300 euros per month. With 746 scholarships for talented and committed students and a share of 0.6 percent of all students, Hamburg is in penultimate place. Saarland has the highest rate at 2.1 percent. According to the data, the national average last year was 1.0 percent. Hamburg is slightly better, but still below the national average, when it comes to scholarships for gifted students.
According to the study, hardly any KfW student loans or educational loans were taken up in Hamburg last year. In the one case there were 753 loans, in the other 258. Nationwide, almost 24,000 new loan agreements were concluded. According to the study, around 41 million euros per month were paid out to a total of around 76,500 borrowers. On average, students received 532 euros per month.
Most students in Hamburg use a different method to make ends meet financially. According to the study, 74.5 percent of full-time students who do not live with their parents had a part-time job in 2021. That is by far first place in a country comparison. It was followed by the city states of Bremen and Berlin with 71 and 70.3 percent respectively. The lowest rate of part-time employment was in Thuringia at 50.7 percent.
For the Head of Political Analysis at the CHE Center for Higher Education Development, Ulrich Müller, the data shows the urgent need for reform in state aid for students. The delays in the BAföG reform and the currently disproportionately high interest rates on the KfW student loan mean that students are increasingly left to finance their studies on their own. "If we leave the system (...) as it is at the moment, success at university in future will depend more and more on whether you have rich parents or are enrolled on a flexible degree course that is compatible with a part-time job."
For Müller, one thing is clear: "The political measure from which students have benefited most financially in recent years did not come from the Ministry of Education, but from the Ministry of Labor: the increase in the minimum wage to 12 euros in October 2022."
Check student financing 2023
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- In contrast to Thuringia, which has the second lowest usage of state aid for student financing in Germany, Hamburg's students make minimal use of this resource, with only 13.1% relying on it.
- The CHE Center for Higher Education Development reported that nearly 87% of the over 100,000 students in Hamburg financed their education through part-time jobs or parental support, while just 13.1% used state aid, such as BAföG or scholarships.
- In Gütersloh, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, 17.8% of students utilized state aid, which is significantly higher than Hamburg's 8.8%.
- Hamburg's universities struggled to secure funding through the Germany Scholarship as well, with only 0.6% of its students receiving the grant, compared to Saarland's 2.1%.
- When it comes to KfW student loans, Hamburg had only 753 new loan agreements in 2021, while federal states like Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg had more than twice that number.
- According to a country comparison, students in Hamburg had the highest rate of part-time employment among full-time students who did not live with their parents, with 74.5% having a part-time job in 2021.
- The Head of Political Analysis at the CHE Center for Higher Education Development, Ulrich Müller, suggested that the Ministry of Education's policies towards student financing have not been as beneficial as the Ministry of Labor's increase in the minimum wage to 12 euros in 2022.
Source: www.stern.de
