Study Loan Situation In Germany

When the laws concerning the university fees were reconstructed by the Constitutional Court of Germany in 2005, diverse loan possibilities have been shaped. Until those days multiple German banks had already invented ideas for academic loans (German: Studentenkredite). Today there are different loans available from both public and private banks and also the KfW.

The “dbStudentenKredit” of the Deutsche Bank is free for all students at German universities or colleges, regardless of their particular study topic. The age limit is 30 years. As a further requirement for the grant of a “dbStudentenKredit” the credit institute needs a complete study plan. All lectures that a student wants to take should be listed up and future career plans need to be described. Furthermore, the bank wants to have information about the creditworthiness of the students from the Schufa book that contains the financial information of all German citizens. These two categories of information provide the bank with the necessary security.

During the 1st and 2nd Semester one can get up to 200 Euros a month for living expenses and education fees. At a further stage the maximum amount of money is 800 Euros monthly. The rate of interest changes from time to time. After a student has finished studying the sum that has to be paid back is fixed by a new contract. During the first year after going off from university no repayments need to be made. The students have 12 years to reimburse the loan (Studentenkredit). Surely it is also possible to repay the total amount of money in one go.

The Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (Credit Institute for Reconstruction), was created shortly after the 2nd World War with the goal of supporting the restoration of the German country. Since April 2006, also the KfW bank offers a student loan for people studing for their first degree.

The student loan finances the living expenses and has the aim to increase the total number of graduates and allow especially the students from non-wealthy families to study. But the latter task is actually the job of the BAfOEG, which is a grant to 50 percent, the rest is an interest-free loan. In comparison student loans (Studentenkredite) are more expensive (interest has to be paid for 100 percent of the loan).

Find out more about the student loan (German: Studienkredit)situation in Germany and go to my blog about Studienkredit. Various possibilities of student funding in Germany discussed further.

categories: student loans, university, students, loans, finance, education, study, studies, studying

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