Germany increases funding for students

Oct 15, 2010, 11:28 GMT

Berlin - German pupils and students eligible for state funding are to receive higher benefits after parliament approved changes to a student funding programme on Friday.

The federal programme, known as Bafoeg, provides financial assistance in the form of grants and loans to students and pupils whose parents cannot afford to support them.

The upper house of parliament, or Bundesrat, agreed to raise the maximum from 648 to 670 euros (940 dollars) per month, along with an average overall increase of 2 per cent.

Half of the funding comes in the form of a grant, and the other half is provided to students and pupils as an interest-free loan.

The changes, which also extend the eligible age from 30 to 35 for students on Masters programmes, will apply retroactively from October 1.

In 2009, roughly 550,000 students received Bafoeg funding, as well as 323,000 school pupils. Parents' income is assessed as a measure of eligibility.

The agreement came after months of wrangling, as Germany's 16 states argued that the federal government should provide a greater share of the additional 500-million-euro cost.

The states - who carry formal responsibility for education - will now fund a third of that increase, but Berlin will also offer universities up to 130 million euros each for research projects.

Education and research funding has been a key priority for Chancellor Angela Merkel, and was ring-fenced in spending cuts announced earlier this year.

Few other European states offer students state funding comparable to Germany's Bafoeg - or federal education promotion law - programme.

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