Last news in Fakti

Students in Germany are struggling - because of rent

Half of students in Germany are struggling financially, and a third are threatened with poverty

Sep 9, 2024 10:33 122

Less than 867 euros - that's how much money 50 percent of students in Germany who live apart from their parents had at their disposal in 2023. statistics show. And this amount is the minimum to cover the costs of living and studying in Germany.

For 41 percent of the students, the main source of income was the work they did, a third was provided by parents or other relatives. 15 percent receive a scholarship.

More than half of the expenses are for rent

Limited funds are mostly explained by high rents. More than half of the expenditure - 54 percent - is for this purpose. For comparison - in Germany, in general, 25 percent of income is spent on rent. "Choosing a higher education institution now increasingly depends on whether the student can afford to rent an apartment in the respective city. This is a new form of social selection," says Matthias Anbuhl from the German Society for Student Support in Higher Education.

Last summer semester, the rent for a room in Cologne was about 560 euros per month, in the most expensive city Munich - 760. In Berlin, a student room was paid about 650 euros, and the average for Germany - 479.

Every third student in Germany is at risk of poverty

The Federal Statistical Office refers one third of the students in the country to this category of the population, which is on the threshold of poverty. It should be noted that this is relative poverty, which is determined by the average living conditions in society. Those at risk of poverty in Germany, as well as in the EU as a whole, include people who have less than 60 percent of the average income of the entire population. In 2023, the threshold for individuals living independently was 1,314 euros net per month.

But why, then, did only 12 percent of German students take advantage of the state education loan intended for children from poorer families? Its low popularity is due to the great bureaucratic difficulties and its relatively small size. It currently stands at 992 euros, and the pledged rent has been increased by 20 euros to 380, which is not comparable to the rapid growth of rents in Germany.