The cost of a college education in Europe has been steadily increasing and in the past years, roughly seventy-one percent of students graduating from four-year colleges needed to take out loans to fund their education.
With the extra tuition hike for international students, along with the expenses that come along with international travel and living, international students often have to face financial hardships just to make their education goals possible and turn to loans to help them out.
However, international students find that with their lack of credit history in Europe, the process of applying and qualifying for a loan can quickly become stressful and complicated.
To help you out, we have put together some of the best options to help fund your education in Europe. See Students Loan For International Students Without a Consigner.
Here is the International Students Loan in Europe
- Student loans from individual banks, for instance, from Sparkasse Herford
- BAföG (short form of: Federal Training Assistance Act)
- The education loan from the Federal Office of Administration
- KfW student loan
- Student loans from the loan offices of the student unions or student services organizations
- Private foundations, e.g., E.W. Kuhlmann Foundation
1. BAföG
BAföG stands for Bundesausbildungsförderungsgesetz (Federal Training Assistance Act). This is a social benefit made available by the German state to enable all prospective students to study, regardless of their financial or social situation. In addition to German citizens, foreign students are also entitled to receive BAföG.
If you come to Germany for the purpose of studying and have no relation to Germany, then unfortunately you are not entitled to BAföG.
But, if one of their regulations applies to you, you should contact the student services organization to which your university belongs to find out what happens next.
Normally, you will be referred to the BAföG office of your university, with whom you can discuss all further details.
2. The education loan from the Federal Office of Administration
This educational loan is made available by the Federal Office of Administration to finance school education or studies.
Apart from German students, this loan option is available to students from non-European countries to a limited extent.
There are conditions under which students from non-EU countries can apply for this loan. You are entitled to it if:
- At the time of application, you are the spouse or partner of a German citizen or an EU citizen with a permanent right of residence, or
- you are the child of a German citizen or an EU citizen with a permanent right of residence, or
- you have lived in Germany for at least five years before beginning your studies and have financed your own living expenses ( possession of a settlement permit).
3. Student loans from the student loan offices of the student unions
Up to this point, you have probably wondered whether you can even get a student loan in Germany if you neither have a German school-leaving certificate in your hand nor are in any kind of family relationship with German or European citizens.
But there are in fact student loans that you can get as a student from a non-EU country regardless of such restrictions.
This is possible, for example, through student loans from the student or student services organisations to which your university belongs.
Let’s take a look at the example of the Studentenwerk Frankfurt am Main. As the name of this type of loan suggests, you can usually apply for this loan in the last semester of your studies, whereby your nationality does not play a role in the application. However, the following is important:
- You are studying at a college/university that belongs to the corresponding network of student unions that have a loan fund.
- It’s best to find out about this on the website of your university or college or take a look at this directory if you are actually in need of financial aid
- You have a person with permanent residence in Germany who can vouch for you when you apply. This person must be able to prove his or her gainful employment in Germany through proof of income.
Conclusion
Student loans for international students in Germany offer an additional option for financing studies, even for students who are not from European countries.
The range of offers is very broad, but the conditions imposed by the providers can often be very inflexible. For this reason, we advise you to look at the different options mentioned and check if one of the loans is suitable for you.
In any case, we keep our fingers crossed for you so that you can master the challenge of financing your studies and start your education in Germany without any worries
