The good old Bafög.

"A wonderful instrument for equal opportunities," says Matthias Anbuhl, General Secretary of the German Student Union.

At least 50 years ago, when the Federal Training Assistance Act came into force.

At that time, around 44 percent of students received student loans, says Anbuhl.

But over the decades it has not been adapted to the changing realities of life and study.

"Bafög only reaches low-wage earners, and it only reaches eleven percent of students." This also means that young people sometimes decide against studying for fear of financing.

Eleven percent is not much - especially when you consider that funding is still very much a topic in discussions among students.

And of course, you always know someone who gets student loans.

Nevertheless, the Bafög has become amazingly irrelevant in its actual function.

In its symbolic function, however, it is by no means so.

The Bafög has been abstracted into a combat term for students who feel they have been treated unfairly.

Anyone who says Bafög denounces.

If you want to make it clear that something is going wrong with your studies in general, say Bafög.

This is probably one of the reasons why Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) told the “Spiegel” last week that she wanted to start with Bafög as far as the promises of the coalition agreement to young people were concerned.

With this in mind: What is the Bafög reform all about, and what else does the traffic light coalition want to do for students?

The Bafög reform

After the reform that the traffic light coalition is planning, entitlement to student loans should no longer depend so much on what the parents earn.

The families of the majority of the students have so far had too much money to be eligible for student loans, but some of them are still unable to finance their studies.

Therefore, the allowances should be increased.

If it is not due to the supposedly high income of the parents, then the BAföG application often fails because the standard period of study is not adhered to or because the students are too old.

In these cases, too, things should be more accommodating in the future.

Or in coalition terms: extend the maximum funding period, raise the age limit.

Changing subjects should also be made easier.

In addition to the Bafög conditions, the traffic light takes on the Bafög rates.

They should be adapted to the rising housing costs.

The payment of the basic child security should also not go through the parents as before, but go directly to the students.

And it could be less time-consuming to take care of student loans in the future.

The new government wants to make application and administration “leaner, faster and more digital”.

When it comes to the details of the Bafög reform plans, the government remains vague.

But because energy prices are rising so sharply, the federal cabinet has decided to grant a one-off heating subsidy for those receiving student loans: everyone who no longer lives with their parents should receive 115 euros.

An application for the grant can be made between June and December 2022.