Parent-Independent Financial Support

Parent-independent financial support is certainly the most generous form of support, as the income of parents is not taken into account.
“Parent-independent financial support” cannot exactly be applied for; instead, the office examines whether you have met the conditions on the basis of the information you give in Appendix 1 to Form 1 (CV).

Parent-independent financial support is granted if:

• You begin your studies after turning 30 (please ensure to make note of Point 9)
• After turning 18, you have been in employment for five years (employment periods do not have to be linked, they can be make of up several smaller time periods)
• You were in education or training for up to three years, and then in employment, and the combined time studying and working was at least six years.

Employment also includes periods of military service, civilian service, federal voluntary service, a voluntary social or ecological year, development service, as well as periods in which you have received unemployment benefits and/or sickness benefits. However, your income must have been sufficient to maintain yourself. For more information, please contact the Office for Educational Support.

Maintenance Advance

If your parent/parents refuse to provide the calculated income amount as a cash maintenance allowance (or they refuse to provide the necessary information on their income), it is possible to request advance payment (“maintenance advance”).

If an application is made, the State of Berlin (represented by studierendenWERK BERLIN) will if applicable pay all or part of the maintenance amount in advance, after consulting the parents/the parent and examining the facts.

In turn, your regular entitlement to maintenance from your parents will be converted to entitlement to maintenance from the State of Berlin. This entitlement will be equivalent to the amount paid in advance. If a subsequent examination reveals that there is a higher level of maintenance required for your university education and your parents are able to pay this, the State of Berlin can demand that your parents repay the financial support that was paid to you in advance. If needed, this demand may be made before a Family Court.

If, on the other hand, the examination reveals that there is no longer any further liability for maintenance, then your will in effect receive parent-independent financial support. However, whether this is the case will be decided by current case law.

If your parents offer benefits in kind (housing and meals, for example in the parents’ home), advance payments are either reduced or not possible at all. You may then have to make a complaint against your parents. For these maintenance proceedings, you may also have to attempt yourself to resolve the issues of financial maintenance or child support in kind.