Bridging assistance

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is providing bridging assistance totalling 100 million euros to help those students who are demonstrably in an acute, pandemic-related (economic or financial) emergency and require immediate support. You can apply for bridging assistance if you are a German or international student enrolled at a public-funded and government-recognised higher education institution in Germany.

Those already receiving loans, grants or other support during the reference month may nevertheless obtain bridging assistance. Depending on proven need, you could receive between 100 euros and 500 euros as a non-repayable allowance.

Those with more than 500 euros in their bank account at the time of submitting an application will not receive this bridging assistance and should please not apply for one. 

The application can be submitted separately for each month until September 2021. Provided that you can prove that you are in a financial emergency due to the pandemic, you can submit an application for each new month. The reasons for the hardship must have arisen in the month of application up to the day before the application or in the two previous months. If the original reason lies longer in the past, own efforts to improve the pandemic-related hardship must be documented in the above-mentioned period.

Please submit your application online to the local student service organisation
(Studierendenwerk or Studentenwerk – STW). The STW will decide on the basis of the details you have provided in your application whether aid will be granted within the limits of the budgetary funds available. The order of processing of applications is generally guided by the time of receipt of the complete documents by the respective student service organisation. Incomplete applications are not processed.

You are not legally entitled to the award of bridging assistance.

Applications must be submitted online. Please use the most reent version of Internet-Browsers Chrome, Firefox or Operae, or the current standard browsers of mobile devices. If you use Edge as a browser, please update to Edge Chrome version 83.x. or higher. The system does not support versions of Internet Explorer.

Applications are submitted to the student service organisation (STW) operating for the higher education institution that you are studying at. In the case of an institution with several locations, the student service organisation where the head office of your higher education institution is located will be responsible for processing your application. In the case of higher education institutions without relevant student service organisations, the German National Association for Student Affairs (Deutsches Studentenwerk – DSW) will determine which student service organisation is responsible.

If you cannot find your higher education institution in the following list, please send an Email to ueberbrueckungshilfe-studierende [at] studentenwerke [dot] de

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research refers to two types of bridging assistance for students:

• a temporary waiver of interest on the KfW Student Loan until the end of March 2021 and expanding the entitlement to the KfW Student Loan also to international students
• 100 million euros in allowances for students in an acute, pandemic-related emergency; in the following, the focus is on these allowances, which amount to a total of 100 million euros.

This aid is meant to benefit those students who are demonstrably in a pandemic-related emergency, who need immediate help and who can claim no other support. This applies equally to German and international students.

Students enrolled at a public-funded or government-recognised higher education institution in Germany are entitled to submit an application.

Students studying within an employment relationship or as part of service, for example at Universities of Applied Administrative Sciences (Verwaltungsfachhochschule) or Federal Army Universities (Bundewehrhochschule), students in courses alongside career or dual system courses, non-enrolled and occasional students (Gasthörer) as well as students at higher education institutions not recognised by the government are not entitled to apply.

The bridging assistance complements the initiatives that the Federal Government has previously launched to assist students in the current exceptional situation brought about by the corona pandemic. BAföG or the KfW Student Loan can provide more long-term support.

During the month in which I apply for this bridging assistance, I must not reckon with any other pandemic-related support, for example via emergency funds, foundations or sponsoring associations, or through previously filed applications.

If you are demonstrably facing financial hardship brought about by the pandemic – for example because you have lost your part-time job and you have so far been unable to find any other part-time employment – you can obtain an allowance of between 100 and 500 euros a month from the government via the student service organisation (STW) that is responsible for your higher education institution.

You can submit applications immediately, although a new application is required for each month. The level of the allowance depends on pandemic-related, individual needs and is calculated as follows:

• Account balance less than 100,00 € => Bridging assistance 500,00 €
• Account balance between 100,00 € and 199,99 € => Bridging assistance400,00 €
• Account balance between 200,00 € and 299,99 € => Bridging assistance300,00 €
• Account balance between 300,00 € and 399,99 € => Bridging assistance200,00 €
• Account balance between 400,00 € and 499,99 € => Bridging assistance100,00 €

The account balance on the day before the application is submitted counts. This means, for example, that if you submit your application on the 20th of April 2021, the account balance of the 19th of April 2021 is relevant.

You will be informed by E-Mail if and how much bridging assistance you may receive after verification of your online application.

Yes, that is what the criteria stipulate. This bridging assistance is meant for acute emergencies.

Monthly income is not an obstacle to applying for bridging aid if at the time of application there is a verifiable pandemic emergency situation and you assure that you have not submitted any further applications for grants for comparable pandemic support in the month for which you are applying for bridging aid, e.g. from emergency funds, foundations or support associations, or that you do not expect any income this month from applications already submitted.

You apply online via the portal www.ueberbrueckungshilfe-studierende.de. Your application is forwarded directly to the student service organisation responsible for your support and will be processed there.

It is important that you state at which higher education institution you are studying. In the case of institutions with branches or locations in further cities, the system will assign a student service organisation according to the head office location of the institution. Please complete the online application mask. The student service organisation responsible for you will assess your application and notify you whether and when you will be receiving bridging assistance.

You can submit your application from Monday, the 16th June 2020 on – but note:

For technical reasons, the student service organisations will only be able to process the applications from the 29th June 2020 on, and the allowances will only be paid after this date.

Please refrain from enquiries at your student service organisation in the period between the June 15-June 29, 2020. Thank you!

You must submit your application within the month for which you need bridging assistance.

Please write an Email to Deutsches Studentenwerk, and send it to ueberbrueckungshilfe-studierende [at] studentenwerke [dot] de – you will then receive a reply from there.

For an application, you need:

• your institution’s certificate of enrolment for the summer semester 2021
• your identity card or equivalent proof of identity, such as a passport with a registration certificate
• details of a bank account in Germany
• a declaration that you have not applied for any further pandemic-related support for the month that you are herewith applying for (such as from emergency funds, foundations or sponsoring associations) or are not expecting further support through applications that you have already submitted
• your explanation of why you are in a pandemic emergency, if available, supported by the relevant documents: Termination of your employment by your previous employer; self-declaration of the cessation of your previous employment, or a self-declaration that family support has ceased due to the pandemic
• account statements of all your accounts since February or March 2021, depending on when you last received income; you may not blacken anything on your account statements, otherwise the application is considered to be incomplete
• a self-declaration that you can be expected to successfully complete your studies

You can still file a request. The expiry date of your identity document only has to be after 31.12.2019.

Yes, only documents proving the pandemic emergency must be submitted without gaps. Information on the identity card that does not directly serve as proof of identity and address, such as place of birth or religious affiliation, can be blacked out.

To prove that you are in a financial emergency because of the pandemic, you must provide complete statements of all your accounts. Exceptions are account statements for savings contracts (e.g. building society contracts) or other accounts to which short-term access is not possible (e.g. rent deposit accounts, other blocked accounts or trust accounts). These do not have to be submitted.

You must also provide online accounts, for example with Paypal or Comdirect.

For this purpose, a reasoned self-disclosure must be uploaded.

In the course of the online application, you will have to upload a photo of yourself several times, including once with your identity card or passport (together with the registration certificate), and there is a further authentication step with an automatically generated number code that will be sent to your Email address. This is meant to prevent abuse and cheating.

No. Subsequent submissions are not possible, so please make sure that you have uploaded the correct documents in full during the application process before submitting the application.

The documents will be displayed immediately after uploading and you can delete or replace them if they are incorrect or illegible. You can also go back and check the accuracy and completeness of the documents before you send the application. If you do not have the documents immediately at hand, interrupt the processing of the application and log in again later so that you can upload the correct documents. You should not send the application until it has been fully processed!

In the online application process, you will automatically be shown whether and when your application is complete when you upload the documents.

You can log on to the portal www.ueberbrueckungshilfe-studierende.de at any time and check the processing status of your application with the student or student union responsible for you. To do so, click on “LOGIN” on the start page and enter the e-mail address you used to submit your application. We will send you a 6-digit “token” or code by e-mail, which you can use to access your application information.

When your Studenten- oder Studierendenwerk has finished processing your application, you will receive a message at the e-mail address with which you are registered at the portal.

When you log in to the application portal, you will be informed whether and how much tideover assistance you will receive. Again, click on “LOGIN” on the start page and use the 6-digit token/code that we will send you by e-mail.

Important: You will receive this e-mail notification from the application portal www.ueberbrueckungshilfe-studierende.de, not from the Studenten- oder Studierendenwerk that has processed your application.

Please refrain from calling or asking your Studenten- oder Studierendenwerk, as the speed with which you receive this notification depends on how many applications are received by the Studenten- oder Studierendenwerk.

Our colleagues will do their best to process your application quickly. Many Studenten- und Studierendenwerke have formed their own teams for this purpose, and if you receive a confirmation, the money will be transferred to your account within a week.

Yes. This bridging assistance is granted monthly. If your emergency situation lasts longer than a month, you can submit a new application in the following month.

No. All you have to provide with a subsequent application is:

• a declaration that you have not applied for any further pandemic-related support for the month that you are herewith applying for (such as from emergency funds, foundations or sponsoring associations) or are not expecting further support through applications that you have already submitted
• the latest account statement

What counts is whether you were in a pandemic-related emergency at the point of submitting the application. You must supply proof of this difficult situation with account statements and further information.

No. The use of the bridging allowance has no influence on questions of the right of residence. The positive examination of an application for bridging assistance is based on a sudden and unintentional emergency situation for the applicant, so that a situation must be assumed which is to be regarded as a hardship case for the granting of a temporary one-off emergency assistance. Accordingly, this is an exception to the standard requirement of guaranteed subsistence under § 5.1 no. 1 Residence Act.

No. The bridging aid is a grant from the Federal Government which does not have to be repaid.

Then unfortunately you cannot receive any bridging aid.

Yes, provided that despite this you are demonstrably in a pandemic-related emergency situation.

Students submitting an application have to declare that they do not expect further infome for the month for which they apply for bridging assistance, and have not applied for or intend to apply for further pandemic-related support (such as from emergency funds, foundations or sponsoring associations).

No, it doesn’t. BAföG notifications are not tested. What counts is that you are nevertheless in a pandemic-related emergency situation, and that the account statements demonstrate that previous income of the same amount from jobs and/or family support has ceased owing to the pandemic.

No, the BMBF states that it is not income in the sense of the BAföG, cf. BMBF online source:

“In some Federal States or student service organisations, emergency aid is available for trainees and students who have lost their (part-time) job owing to the pandemic. Recipients of payments in accordance with the BAföG can also apply for such aid and will receive it, provided that they qualify. Such loans are referred to in § 21 Para. 4 No. 4 BAföG and are hence not to be treated as income in the sense of the BAföG. […] This regulation is to be applied correspondingly for emergency aid in the form of allowances.”

https://www.bafög.de/keine-nachteile-beim-bafoeg-wegen-corona-756.php

Yes.

Yes, as long as it is not a course alongside a career (berufsbegleitendes Studium).

Yes.

This bridging assistance is granted as a non-repayable allowance; it is meant to bridge the time up to when you have found new employment and are no longer in an emergency situation.

No.

Both serve for secure identification and protect you and all other students from abuse. You will receive a six-digit token or code via your e-mail address each time you log in. The token or code is valid for two hours and must be requested again for each login.

If all documents are completely uploaded when you submit your online application, you will receive a six-digit confirmation code by SMS on your mobile phone or smartphone so that you can finally submit and complete your online application.

This means that you will always receive an e-mail token if you wish to complete your application after an interruption or view the processing status; you will only receive the six-digit SMS code once to be able to send your application.

Data protection is ensured in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union.

No, the bridging assistance is an allowance that does not have to be repaid if you meet the eligibility criteria. Since the measure is a mass procedure, fulfilment of the criteria is automatically assessed by the system. Manual checks are only performed by the staff in the student service organisations with regard to the consistency of uploads and self-declarations.