“We want to reform the student loan and make it more independent of parents.” How far do you want to go on the way to a student loan that will again reach more children of low-income people and also the middle class?
It is clear that a student loan reform must come in the new legislative period, after the number of recipients of federal training funding has not increased despite the last amendment, but has at best stagnated. In the end, even the CDU would have gone along. But without the Union, the reform would now have to go far beyond the due increase in the parental allowances and the student loan rates and the flat-rate housing cost allowance.
“Now is the chance for real structural reform, nobody can say that the Union is on the brakes”, says Sonja Bolenius, DGB expert for university and science policy. The big question, however, remains whether the federal government is ready to grant the students a full grant again. The 50 percent partial loan is considered a deterrent, especially for working-class children, despite a generous cap and repayment based on income.
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Where the sticking points of the reform lie, what is agreed on and what is disputed, is subject to the strict confidentiality agreed by the three parties. But at least: There is important information in the half-sentence that the Bafög should be designed to be “parent-independent”. It will therefore not be completely independent of the income of the person liable for maintenance.
Basic protection from child benefit seems to be in place
Is that the move away from the FDP’s “parent-independent modular student loan system”? According to the liberal understanding, it should consist of a monthly base amount of 200 euros “analogous to the previous child benefit or child allowance for parents” and a further 200 euros from the state, which students receive who work ten hours a week or do voluntary work.
Anyone who cannot or does not want to work out the missing maintenance themselves or to claim it from their parents should be able to receive an interest-free loan for the standard period of study plus two semesters. According to the FPD, it has to be repaid “only if you have a good income”.
The “parent-independent” funding sought by the Ampel alliance points more to the concept of the Greens: A structural reform based on the modular system is also planned, but it does not require a loan.
The green basic security for students and people in school education up to the age of 25 is made up of 290 euros child benefit, a place-based rent allowance for the apartment of an average of 350 euros and a subsidy for health care insurance of 109 euros. With this “student loan for everyone” you would be at least 749 euros, which is paid independently of the parents.
SPD wants “gradual return to full subsidy”
Another pillar is a non-repayable need allowance, which is based on the income and assets of parents and students. The maximum rate is 431 euros, corresponding to the Hartz IV standard rate for adults. According to the Greens program, this subsidy, which according to the “guarantee protection” is to rise to 603 euros, will be offset against the base amount of 290 euros for those entitled.
In the case of the SPD it sounded similar recently: according to the electoral program, it is only aiming for a “gradual return to the full subsidy”, but also mentions “the new child benefit” as “basic protection for everyone up to the age of 25”. That makes “the Bafög more parent-independent” – and reminds once more of the formulation from the exploratory paper.
[Zum Bafög-Jubiläum haben wir persönliche Geschichten aus 50 Jahren aufgezeichnet: “Dankbarkeit kam erst später auf”]
The basic funding financed by child benefits for everyone should have a very good chance, after all, the SPD, Greens and FDP are going in the same direction. Is there also a housing allowance for everyone as well as parent-dependent full allowances? Or does a part still have to be repaid for the time being? That should depend on how much money the student loan reform may cost.
Does the compromise line come from the DGB?
Between the SPD and the Greens – and thus on a possible compromise line – stands the DGB, which in September demanded a basic subsidy of 257 euros, regionally staggered housing costs and significantly increased, usually parent-dependent standard rates as a full subsidy. And that again for students from the 10th grade who still live at home.
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But the FDP is known to insist on the “black zero” and is resisting a new debt. Does that mean everything is open again? DGB expert Sonja Bolenius sees the liberals among the many first-time voters of the FDP: “It is their duty to provide a real new start in student funding”. Bolenius does not believe that the loan model could end up being: “The loan component is a no go for the SPD – and hopefully for the Greens too.”
An indication that it could amount to a kind of basic security plus support according to social criteria is the working group of the coalition negotiations, in which the student loan is located. Not for example with innovation, science and universities, but “with opportunities for children, strong families and the best education for a lifetime”. And there is also negotiations on the “basic child security” that the SPD and the Greens have promised.
Little is currently being heard about the “emergency mechanism” in student loans, which the three negotiating parties in the corona crisis unanimously called for. That could mean that there is already agreement to help all students who get into financial hardship due to pandemics or other national crises with government grants. Combined with the hope that Corona will not lead to such an emergency again and that other crises will not materialize.
