Stays abroad, whether studying or doing an internship, are subsidised on separate application. The application must be submitted to the office responsible for education funding in the respective country. This means that you cannot take the funding provided by the responsible office in your home country with you abroad and should take care of all the formalities in good time!
Prerequisites
The prerequisites for BAföG funding abroad are that the training abroad/internship is particularly beneficial for the training in Germany (the university issues this certificate on Form 6, among others) and that at least part of this training can be credited to the regular training.
Minimum duration
The requirements differ depending on whether you want to study abroad or take part in an internship prescribed by the study regulations.
The following applies to studies abroad:
- The minimum duration must be at least 6 months or 1 semester if attending an equivalent training centre or 12 weeks if there is a cooperation agreement with the university.
- The minimum duration for a compulsory internship prescribed by the study and examination regulations must be 12 weeks. There are exceptions for stays abroad within the EU.
- Training in an EU member state can now also be subsidised until the training is completed abroad. It is also possible to change countries. The maximum duration of funding is then based on the standard period of study specified in the foreign study regulations.
Services
In the form of a 50 % grant and 50 % interest-free loan, both the study programme and the internship are funded.
- The basic requirement of € 855 also includes the cost of accommodation.
- Costs of health and long-term care insurance in accordance with § 13a BAföG (max. € 233). In the event of additional costs, up to €94 can still be covered.
- If you are studying in an EU country, travel costs for the outward and return journey of €250 in Europe and €500 in other countries will be covered.
- For non-EU countries, a foreign supplement is also paid in part (corresponding to the amount allocated for the respective country).
However, the costs for verifiably necessary tuition fees (max. € 5,600/year) are granted as a full subsidy in both cases.
Arguments in favour of training abroad
As a rule, the time spent studying abroad is not taken into account for up to one year when funding a subsequent study programme in Germany. This means that anyone who completes two semesters of study abroad can subsequently extend their maximum funding period for receiving BAföG benefits in Germany accordingly.
