BAföG, BAB and exclusion from housing benefit

The Housing Benefit Act does not first ask whether BAföG lands in the account. It asks whether the person, by type of training, age, nationality and duration of support, stands in principle in the system of the Federal Training Assistance Act or of BAB. If that is so, the housing-cost question is to be solved through BAföG or BAB, not through housing benefit.

The exclusion therefore remains if the BAföG notice refuses only because of income or assets that are too high – often the parents’. The training itself would still be eligible. This page treats the overlap; the other blocks are under Transfer benefits.

It applies to single students and to trainees who can reach BAB in principle and do not live in a household with other people entitled to housing benefit. Single here means: your own household without further members who are entitled to apply.

The exclusion does not apply if there is already no eligibility in principle. Examples that can hold in the individual case:

If the student or trainee lives with parents, a partner or their own children in a joint household, housing benefit for the household can come into consideration if other members are entitled to apply. The student or trainee is then included as a household member with their income – including BAföG paid out.

A mere room in a shared flat with separate finances does not yet make housemates into household members who are entitled to apply. Then the focus remains on the single person.

BAföG or BAB paid out is income as soon as someone falls into the housing-benefit calculation at all. The grant share and the loan share can work differently; what matters is the housing-benefit classification in the notice, not the everyday label.

Bürgergeld alongside study follows its own rules: with housing costs (KdU) the exclusion on the Bürgergeld page remains. Parental allowance, child benefit or a mini-job do not change the BAföG principle question, but raise income if the household is eligible for housing benefit.

The housing-benefit authority must be able to read why BAföG or BAB was refused, stopped or never applied for. If the reason is missing, it cannot remove the exclusion “in principle”. Enclose refusal notices, termination notices or confirmation of non-eligibility.

The list of evidence is under Documents. The Housing Office (Amt für Wohnungswesen), Adickesallee 67–69, 60322 Frankfurt am Main, is responsible for the dwelling in Frankfurt am Main – regardless of where the higher-education institution or the employer is.

If eligibility in principle ends – for example after completion, a break without a new support option, or a switch into a form that is not eligible – a first application can make sense. The other eligibility rules must be met, including assets and housing costs you bear yourself.

A current housing-benefit award of other household members is adjusted to the changed training situation through the renewal. Terms are explained in the Glossary.