09. Parent-independent support

Parent-independent support is certainly the simplest form of support, as the parents' income is not taken into account. 

Parent-independent support is granted if:

• You are at least 30 years old when you start your studies. or
• You have been employed for five years since your 18th birthday. Periods of employment do not have to be connected; they can also result from several partial periods) or
• You have been employed for three years after completing at least three years of training or, if the training period was shorter, you have been employed for a correspondingly longer period, resulting in a period of at least six years.

Employment also includes periods of federal voluntary service, the voluntary social or ecological year, development service and periods in which you received unemployment or sickness benefit. However, the income generated must have been sufficient to support oneself (except for voluntary services). You can obtain further information from the Office for Training Support.

Maintenance advance

If your parents refuse to provide the credited income amount as cash support (or to provide the necessary information about their income situation), you have the option of: advance payment (“maintenance advance”).

The state of Berlin, represented by the studierendenWERK BERLIN, after submitting the appropriate application, hearing the parents and examining the facts, then, if necessary, pays the maintenance contribution in whole or in part in advance.

In return, your maintenance claim against your parents is then regularly transferred to the state of Berlin in the amount of the funds provided in advance (legal transfer of claim). If a subsequent examination shows that your parents have a further obligation to support your university education and that the parents have the corresponding economic capacity, the state can then demand the funding provided in advance from your parents; If necessary, also before the relevant family court.

However, if the examination shows that your parents no longer have any further maintenance obligations, you will then receive “virtually” parent-independent support. However, whether such a case exists is decided not least on the basis of current case law.

If your parents offer benefits in kind (accommodation and meals, e.g. in your parents' house), advance payments are only reduced or no longer possible. You may then have to file a lawsuit against your parents yourself and have the question of cash or in-kind maintenance clarified yourself in the maintenance process.