The Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB) has called on the federal government to implement the student loan reform agreed in the coalition agreement and has called for a further increase in student loan rates. “In order to take current inflation and the exploding energy and housing costs in Bafög into account in a timely manner, the federal government must tackle the planned Bafög structural reform quickly and initiate a sharp increase in the requirement rates and allowances this year,” said the Deputy DGB Chairwoman Elke Hannack of the German Press Agency.
The traffic light coalition raised the Bafög rate for students from 427 to 452 euros a month last winter semester. The increase is “already being eaten up by the enormously increased inflation,” according to a recently adopted position paper by the DGB, which is available to the dpa. He calls for an increase this year to 602 euros per month. In addition, according to the union federation, the benefit should be adjusted regularly and automatically.
In the coalition agreement, the traffic light had set itself the goal of “fundamentally” reforming the Bafög, for example through more regular adjustments to allowances and requirement rates and through the introduction of “start-up assistance” for first-year students from poorer families, so that they can get a notebook, textbooks or move to the study location can afford.
