1,000 euros for students from benefit families — deadline 30 November
A one-off payment of 1,000 euros is available to people starting their first degree this autumn if their household was receiving benefits in the month before term begins. It is called the Studienstarthilfe, it is a grant and not a loan, and it never has to be repaid. It is meant for the costs that land all at once at the start of a course: a rental deposit, the semester fee, a laptop, books and materials.
The eligibility rules are narrow but they cover more households than most people assume. You must be under 25 when the study period begins and enrolling in a first full-time degree at a university or an equivalent institution. In the month immediately before term starts, you or your household must have been receiving one of the listed benefits. That list includes Grundsicherungsgeld under SGB II (the payment that replaced Bürgergeld on 1 July 2026), Hilfe zum Lebensunterhalt, Grundsicherung in old age or reduced earning capacity, Kinderzuschlag, Wohngeld — either in your own name or as a member of a Wohngeld household — and, importantly for anyone still in the asylum system, benefits under the Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz.
Two details decide most applications. First, the timing: the benefit must have been received in the month directly before the course starts, so for an October start you must show September. An older award notice from the spring is not enough, and it is worth requesting a current confirmation from the office now. Second, Kindergeld alone does not qualify — Kinderzuschlag does, but ordinary child benefit does not.
Apply through BAföG Digital. You need your enrolment certificate and proof of the benefit for the correct month. The deadline is short and unforgiving: applications must arrive by the end of the month following the month your course begins, so a course starting on 1 October means 30 November. Miss it and the whole grant is lost.
You do not need a regular monthly BAföG entitlement to receive it, and the 1,000 euros is not counted as income against other means-tested benefits, so nothing else is reduced because you took it. The scheme has run since winter 2024/25 and is not new; in 2024 some 10,700 first-year students received it.