BAfoG advance payments are to avoid social hardship. You advance the money that is missing because the parents do not pay. But what if your parents provide benefits in kind instead of money?
Will this be taken into account? And what about child benefit, a car financed by parents or support from a spouse?? Learn here everything important about BAfoG advance payments!
BAfoG advance payments – what are they??
Advance payments do not correspond to the normal BAfoG. Here only the BAfoG office takes over an important task: It stretches financial assistance – thus the maintenance – of your parents before.
Just like BAfoG, it is intended to allow you to concentrate fully on your education. Nevertheless, there is a difference to the normal BAfoG. If you are entitled to maintenance, the office will later recover the money from your parents.
Parents are obliged to support the first education of their children. If you are unable or unwilling to do so, the office will take your place, so to speak. It advances what you are entitled to.
But only if no one else can cover it. If there is a wealthy spouse, for example, he or she can support you. Then your claim is reduced accordingly or falls away completely. BAfoG advance payments are only available if your education would otherwise be at risk.
Check your requirements you will receive such BAfoG advance payments:
- If you are entitled to alimony?
- If you are entitled to BAfoG?
This is important
Your entitlement to BAfoG must of course exist. With the maintenance it behaves not quite so simply. Because at the end often also the one receives something, which has actually no requirement at all on maintenance payments.
But the reason is not cheating on the part of the student. Rather, this mitigates social hardship. This is due to the two different laws: Alimony payments often end before the BAfoG support begins.
In this case, an advance payment can also be applied for – and is also successful. Because the parents are not at fault, the office cannot recover the money from them. The subsidy is therefore converted into parent-independent BAfoG.
BAfoG advance payments – your prerequisites:
- Parents do not support / not enough
- Failure to receive support proven
- Education is at risk
Education at risk? What does this mean?
Your BafoG decision calculates the amount your parents would have to pay to support you. If they do not pay or pay even ten euros too little, your education is considered at risk. The decisive factor is therefore the BAfoG office's calculations of the parents' maintenance payments.
General requirements for the right to support
This is what you should know before submitting an application. The legislator expects the support with an "appropriate previous education to a profession" – but what is appropriate, remains vague. In practice, the following opinion has prevailed: An initial education is appropriate. Even a first degree, if your whole life path is working towards it. So if you have a high school diploma and study right after that, your parents will be asked to pay for it.
It looks different, if you set it after a successful first education in the head to hang something completely different on it. You are trained for your profession, which is enough to live on. This second education or even a sudden change of studies might reduce your hope of having a claim to maintenance.
BAfoG advance payments in practice: this is how it works!
You do not simply make your application: Contact the Office for Education Assistance beforehand. There you clarify your basic claim, before it goes to the formalities.
At least the latter are limited: You need the BAfoG form number 8 for the application for BAfoG advance payments. Exactly it is called "Application for advance payments according to § 36 BAfoG". The BAfoG form can be found easily online, comprises only two clear pages and can be filled out quickly.
Formal procedure application for BAfoG advance payments
Contact Amt fur Ausbildungsforderung beforehand Download application for advance benefits according to § 36 BAfoG (BAfoG form) Observe deadlines: Application is only possible until the end of the approval period
More tricky are the required verifications. Because, of course, the office wants proof that you have sought support from your parents. You can list this collectively, or by mother and father separately.
You have to prove that: missing information from your parents, of course also missing maintenance payments. You will also be asked whether the payment is missing in total or only in part.
Please note that maintenance payments can be monetary – but also benefits in kind in an appropriate amount! By law, in fact, your parents can decide this for themselves.
Therefore, list in the application everything you receive. This applies to pocket money as well as accommodation, meals, contributions to insurance, car provision and the like.
It is further inquired, what you possibly already knocked out. Information on any legal disputes you make of course conscientiously, also your life partner or spouse is taken with its possibilities under the magnifying glass. Finally, a wealthy partner can also come to your aid if your parents do not.
This is what happens when you make such an application for BAfoG advance benefits:
First of all, the Office for Education Grants will examine your application. If there is an existing claim for maintenance, it takes over the advance payment. Later, the money is reclaimed from the parents, in a court of law if necessary.
A lawsuit can also lend weight to the claim. If there is no entitlement to maintenance payments from your side, you will then receive BAfoG independent of parents.
Alternative BAfoG rent subsidy?
Tip
Who does not get through with the request for BAfoG advance payment nevertheless, perhaps because the request is not accepted at all, has it heavily. Also a BAfoG rent subsidy can never be an alternative, because it always pays only a part of your costs.
To live you need however substantially more! In addition, not everyone is eligible for such a BAfoG rent subsidy. The prerequisite is, for example, that you still live with your parents. If you still want to apply for the BAfoG rent subsidy, you have to go to the Jobcenter, because it approves and pays it.
Alternative student loan
Significantly better is a student loan. The difference to the normal credit: You receive the sum not at once, but in monthly installments. So you can plan better and avoid financial hardship.
The KfW grants such a student loan upon application. However, you must not be older than 44 years to qualify for funding. In addition, you should be a German or EU citizen. Another prerequisite: you must have lived in Germany for at least three years. The maximum amount of support is 650 Euro per month. This student loan can be coupled with other funding opportunities!
KfW has other interesting funding models. If the BAfoG office has given you a negative decision, you should definitely pay them a visit. If you do not find what you are looking for there either, think about a personal loan as well.
BAfoG is basically no different, here too you will have to pay back a large sum later on! However, think carefully about how you want to handle the financial burdens. As with BAfoG, you are then in debt and need a good job to pay everything off on time.
Conclusion – BAfoG advance payments support you, where your parents do not do it
BAfoG is a fine thing. But what if your parents are dependents and their payments are counted, even though you don't see a dime of it? Then it is time to apply for BAfoG advance payments.
BAfoG advance payments should allow you to train or study without basic financial hardship. An important prerequisite for this is your proof that without payment your education would be at risk. If even ten euros are missing from the amount calculated by the office, you can apply for BAfoG advance payments. The application itself can be obtained from the office. In addition, it can be found online, from where you can download and fill it out.
If your other requirements are also met, the office will pay for your parents. However, it recovers the money later from them. If you have problems due to a difference between the maintenance law and the BAfoG, an application for advance payments can also help you to receive the BAfoG, which is independent of parents. Inquire in any case before application! Information and advice can be found at your education funding office.