Interim financial aid consisted of two elements: the KfW student loan and a non-repayable grant. Students receive the KfW loan interest-free from May 2020 to September 2022. International students were temporarily eligible to apply for this loan. Students in acute, pandemic-related financial hardship also had the opportunity to apply monthly for a non-repayable grant of up to €500. The grant was made available from June to September 2020 and from November 2020 to September 2021.

In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, many students lost the income they had counted on from part-time jobs or through financial support from family. The interest-free KfW student loan provided the necessary aid starting 8 May 2020. Since the start of the interest-free loan period, about 57,000 loan applications have been approved. Some 20,000 international students are among those who have received such a long-term financial support (as at 1 December 2021). The grant, which is part of the interim financial aid, has also helped to offset income lost due to the pandemic. About 109,000 students in financial hardship received support – some for a period of many months. The most significant education-funding instrument – also in the pandemic – continued to be BAföG. Again, the BMBF responded swiftly: the ministry has extended financial assistance under the Act to cover for the delays in completion of studies related to the pandemic. The BAföG reform of 2019 continues to make an impact: funding rates and housing assistance have increased significantly, and the income threshold for BAföG eligibility was lowered. The second and third phases of these this reform became effective in October 2020 and August 2021 respectively. As a result, the average monthly rate of funding has risen substantially and the group of persons eligible has become larger.

KfW student loan: Basic questions and answers

How does the student loan work?

Since 8 May 2020, students have been able apply for a loan from KfW which is interest-free until 30 September 2022. Students from EU member states who have resided in Germany for less than three years and students from third countries can apply since 1 June 2020.

The BMBF will pay the interest costs until 31 March 2021 on KfW student loans, which are in the disbursement phase before that date. After that date, students are expected to pay the applicable interest rate themselves. Depending on need, the loan is granted for an amount of up to €650 per month following an unbureaucratic online application procedure.

The temporary interest-free period on student loans also applies for students who have already taken out a KfW student loan and are receiving disbursements. The loans being made to students will likely enable additional funding of up to €1 billion in total.

What are the rules governing student loan repayment?

The usual, very flexible, repayment schedules for KfW student loans apply. Terms and conditions can be agreed and amended on an individual Basis.

The basic conditions for loan repayment are as follows: no repayment is due during a grace period of 6 to 23 months, but during which interest may accrue. A minimum instalment of €20 per month is due in the subsequent repayment phase. A maximum repayment period of 25 years is in effect. Loans must be repaid by the borrower’s 67th birthday.

Unscheduled repayments are allowed, which is attractive in particular for small-volume and shorter-term financial aid.

Further information is available here.

Who is eligible for KfW aid?

The KfW student loan as interim financial aid is available to the previously eligible group: students aged 18-44 who are enrolled at a state-recognized institution of higher education in Germany and fulfil one of the following conditions:

• German citizens who are registered as living in Germany
• Dependants of German citizens who live with them in Germany and who are registered here
• EU citizens who have been lawfully residing in Germany on a permanent basis for at least three years and who are registered here
• Dependants of EU citizens (who fulfil the above criteria) and reside with them in Germany and who are registered here
• Non-nationals who have acquired their university entrance qualifications in Germany and are registered in Germany

To check if you fulfil the criteria for the KfW loan, go to the KfW website .

How does one apply?

Applications for interim financial aid can be submitted to KfW since 8 May 2020. Further information is available on the KfW website at www.kfw.de/studienkredit-coronahilfe

When can applicants expect disbursement of the student loan?

If an application for aid is made by the fifteenth day of the month, disbursement will begin on the first day of the following month.

Is there any other form of emergency aid for students in need?

Yes. A sum of €100 million was available, in addition to the aid from KfW, during the months of June through September 2020. Students faced with pandemic-related financial hardship and who need immediate help could apply for financial aid with the student services organisations.

Interim Financial Aid – Grant

Through September 2021, German nationals and international students enrolled at state-recognized higher education institutions in Germany whose main residence is in Germany were eligible to apply for financial aid to cope with pandemic-related hardship. The interim financial aid was paid in the form of a non-repayable grant, which the BMBF established jointly with the German National Association for Student Affairs (DSW). Applications for these grants were submitted to the individual regional Student Services Centre responsible for aid disbursement. The 57 regional Student Services Centres processed and took grant decisions independently.

The grant, which is part of the interim financial aid, ended on 30 September 2021 as scheduled. Anja Karliczek, Federal Minister of Education and Research, explained in August 2021: “I am glad that the student job market is slowly recovering from the restrictions put in place to curb the pandemic. The number of young people with mini jobs has increased significantly over the previous quarter and same period last year – similar to the general trend on the labour market reported by the Federal Statistical Office. The favourable development of the pandemic, vaccination progress as well as the outstanding flexibility of many students have all made this possible. These factors have now caused demand to fall sharply, which is why we have decided, together with the DSW, to phase out grants for students in pandemic-related financial hardship as planned at the end of September 2021. Our decision also took into consideration the assessment of the local student services organisations who took grant-making decisions independently.”

Nearly 620,000 applications for grants were made by students in pandemic-related financial hardship over the entire applicable period. More than one third was submitted by international students. The highest number of applications in one month during the entire period was reached at the beginning of the pandemic in June 2020 when roughly 82,000 submissions were made. The number of applications dropped sharply over the course of the summer, which led to suspension of the measure in October 2020. The measure was reopened for the winter semester 2020/2021 when the second lockdown was imposed in November 2020, and was extended into the spring of the following year to cover all of the summer semester 2021. This extension provided students with the planning certainty they needed to continue successfully their studies under pandemic conditions. The effects of the second lockdown, particularly on the student job market, became evident in the high number of monthly applications during the winter months – sometimes exceeding 40,000 requests per month. Application numbers declined steadily from April 2021.

From June 2020 – with the exception of October 2020 – submissions could be made on a monthly basis. During that time, 181,000 students applied at least once. Altogether, the regional Student Service Centres received about 619,200 applications during these fifteen months of which so far they could grant 433,000 (69.9%).  About a third of all applications were submitted by students of non-German citizenship. Sixty per cent of all applicants, i.e. nearly 109,000 students, were supported for at least a month. Many students were supported over the course of several months – on average four months. The average sum granted per application was €452. Altogether, students were granted €194 million. The total cost of the financial aid is €214 million (as at 17 November 2021).

The interim financial aid has provided reliable support for many students during the pandemic. A survey by the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies among applicants revealed just how important the aid has been: 61.4% of respondents claim they could not have continued their studies without it. In addition, the respondents viewed the grant instrument favourably on the whole. Nearly three-quarters of the respondents were satisfied with the online application procedure; 60% reported being satisfied with the speed of processing, and another roughly 60% were satisfied with the grant amount (further findings can be downloaded here: https://doi.org/10.34878/2021.05.dzhw_brief ).