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Apply for BAföG or study start-up aid

The Federal Education and Training Assistance Act (or BAföG) is the best and simplest way to finance your studies. The study start-up aid is a one-off grant and is used to finance expenses in connection with the start of studies.

Online application for BAföG or study start-up aid

Apply for BAföG online
Photo: DSW/Jan Eric Euler

Please use the electronic application via the BAföG digital platform of the federal and state governments:

Apply for BAföG online
Apply for study start-up aid online

Important: For queries in connection with your electronic application on the BAföGdigital platform, please contact the hotline set up there +49 800 2236 341.

  • The BAföG office processes all new applications digitally. Please submit your documents as clearly legible PDF files. Photographs of documents make processing more difficult.
  • Save each form and each piece of supporting documentation as an individual PDF file. Multi-page documents (e.g., tax assessments or rental agreements) should each be submitted as a single, combined PDF file.

In order to be eligible for the student starting grant (Studienstarthilfe), you must have been entitled to one of the social benefits specified in the BAföG in the month prior to the start of your studies (pursuant to § 56 para. 1 sentence 1 nos. 1 - 8 and sentence 4 BAföG).

Important information regarding the student starting grant (Studienstarthilfe) for first-year students

If you wish to apply for the student starting grant, one point is particularly important:
The start of your studies is not determined by the month of your matriculation (enrollment), but by the month in which your lectures and classes actually begin. This is the official start of your studies (§ 15b para. 2 BAföG).

Example:
  • Matriculation: September
  • Start of lectures: October
  • In this case, October is considered the start of your studies.
  • What this means for the example: You must still be entitled to the respective social benefit in September.

Important: Therefore, do not deregister from your social benefit provider too early. If your entitlement to benefits ends prior to the relevant preceding month, the student starting grant cannot be approved.

(Attending a preparatory course (Vorkurs) may, under certain circumstances, also constitute the start of your studies. Proof of participation in an eligible preparatory course is strictly required.)

We are exclusively responsible for students at the following universities:

  • Technische Universität Dresden
  • IHI - Internationales Hochschulinstitut Zittau
  • Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Dresden
  • Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden
  • Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden
  • Palucca Hochschule für Tanz Dresden
  • Evangelische Hochschule Dresden
  • Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz
  • Hochschule für Kirchenmusik Dresden
  • Fachhochschule Meißen
  • Polizeifachhochschule Rothenburg
  • Fachhochschule Dresden - Private Fachhochschule
  • DIU Dresden International University

BAföG funding in the school and vocational sector is generally the responsibility of the office in whose district the student's parents live. If the parents live in Dresden, please contact the state capital Dresden.

The Studentenwerk Chemnitz-Zwickau is responsible for processing BAföG applications from students at the Saxony Cooperative State University (formerly Berufsakademie Sachsen).