Support services for students in financial need

At the Chemnitz-Zwickau Student Service Organisation, students in financial distress through no fault of their own can apply for hardship loans or grants. As students are particularly hard hit by the rise in prices, Science Minister Sebastian Gemkow announced at the end of February that the emergency grant in case of hardship of the Saxon student unions would be increased if necessary.

The emergency aid funds are a long-standing, integral part of the support offered by the Student Service Organisations to students in financial distress. The funds from the loan and hardship funds are usually given as non-interest bearing repayable loans, so that they flow back and are always available for allocation. In cases of hardship, these funds may also be awarded as grants. The granting of these funds is linked to a personal application in which the students prove that they have got into the hardship through no fault of their own, that they have no other financing options and that the continuation of their studies or the completion of their studies is at risk. The Saxon Ministry of Science intends to increase the emergency funds as needed so that no one has to give up their studies because of rising living costs.

The social loans are interest-free and limited to a maximum of 500 euros per month. Short-term loans (term up to 3 months) are limited to a total of 1,500 euros, while medium-term loans (term up to 6 months) are granted up to a total of 3,000 euros. In addition, there is also the semester fee loan, which can be used specifically to finance the semester fee in connection with enrollment. As a rule, the loans must be covered by collateral from the applicant, i.e. he/she must either have a claim to educational funding (BAföG) or provide a guarantor for the repayment of the loan. The amount and the repayment modalities are agreed upon when the loan agreement is concluded according to the student's individual situation.

Students receive particularly low-threshold support through the Chemnitz-Zwickau Student Service Organisation's free meal vouchers: the free warm meal per day helps to bridge situations in which money is too tight even for food. The free meal vouchers are issued at the Studentenwerk's social counseling centers upon an informal application. They can be redeemed in all canteens and cafeterias of the Studentenwerk Chemnitz-Zwickau.
Further information and details can be found in the social benefits regulations (pdf, 499 kB) of the Studentenwerk Chemnitz-Zwickau. These as well as the contact persons for personal consultation can be found at https://www.swcz.de/en/social-services/frequently-asked-questions/studies-and-finances/#snapper224_snap4.

Since the above-mentioned support offers apply to special hardship cases and do not relieve the broad mass of students, we continue to work together with the other Student Service Organisations and the KSS with the responsible ministries at the federal and state level for additional relief and low-threshold financial aid for students, such as a 29-euro education ticket valid throughout Germany and other measures to compensate for inflation.