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ENERGY CRISIS

First students get their €200 energy relief payments in Germany

A full half year after the relief measure was announced, the first bank transfers to students in Germany began on Friday.

Published: 10 March 2023 12:46 CET

Students at Heidelberg University sit in a lecture hall.

Students at Heidelberg University sit in a lecture hall. Photo: picture alliance / Uwe Anspach/dpa | Uwe Anspach

The Federal government’s one-off relief payments to students for rising energy bills and other costs of living increases are finally underway – with around 12,800 applicants having received the first approval notices in a test phase in Saxony-Anhalt.

Although originally promised six months ago, the payments were delayed because student bank details and other identifying information weren’t available centrally, unlike with employee relief payments of €300 paid out last autumn.

Saxony Anhalt’s digital ministry enrolled the first students from universities and technical institutes in the state in the test phase, which the federal Education Ministry is using as a model for the German-wide system.

With Saxony-Anhalt now having reported that their test was successful, the payments will now be rolled out nationwide.

Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger says the pilot phase demonstrated that the payment is easy to apply for online – with the average application taking around three minutes to complete.

The application portal is set to open nationwide on March 15th. Anyone who was enrolled as a student in a university or technical institute in Germany on December 1st, 2022 – whether full or part-time – is eligible, provided they were habitually resident in Germany at the time. Government projections indicate that probably covers around 3.5 million people.

The €200 fee is supposed to be exempt from tax and cannot be calculated as offsetting any other social benefits someone might be entitled to.

READ ALSO: How students can apply for the €200 energy payment in Germany

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Why could Germany’s €49 ticket threaten semester tickets for students?

Around three million students in Germany have a semester ticket – a special tariff which enables them to use local public transport at a fixed, low cost for a six-month period. The ticket operates on a so-called solidarity model, which means that all students are required to purchase it, regardless of whether they want to use it or not.

Although the Semesterticket was considered a significant social achievement when it was first introduced in 1991, it has faced criticism and legal challenges over the years. Until now, these have been unsuccessful.

But the Deutschlandticket, which allows holders to use nationwide public transport for €49 per month, could pose a threat to the semester ticket model.

Why does the Deutschlandticket pose a problem for the Semesterticket?

A recent legal opinion commissioned by the Student Union (AStA) from the Technical University of Dortmund found that future lawsuits against the semester ticket model could be successful, because, in many cases, it is no longer significantly cheaper than other available transport options.

READ ALSO: Who benefits the most (and least) from Germany’s new €49 ticket?

The opinion refers to an argument made by the Federal Administrative Court in an earlier legal case, which said that a solidarity model ticket should only offer a ticket that is significantly cheaper than all other public transport options.

The price for the Semesterticket varies depending on where you are in Germany. In Schweinfurt, in Franconia, the semester ticket currently costs less than €7 per month, but in larger cities like Berlin or Hamburg, it costs over €30, which is almost the same as the new “Deutschlandticket Jobticket” introduced for employees. In Cologne, Düsseldorf, or Aachen, the price for the semester ticket even exceeds €35.

The price difference compared to the €49 ticket could therefore be considered too small, especially considering that students can use it nationwide.

As a result, one university in Brandenburg has already withdrawn from the Semesterticket agreement with the Berlin-Brandenburg transport association (VBB), while a Berlin university has also suspended Semesterticket contracts from the winter semester onwards, and others are considering the same step.

Student representatives now fear that, if local transport authorities don’t make the €49 ticket cheaper for students, the Semesterticket model could be at risk of legal challenges.

“If the transport companies do not make the Semesterticket cheaper, we have to terminate the contracts,” David Wiegmann, the AStA chairman of TU Dortmund, told the German news site taz.

Matthias Anbuhl, the Chairman of the German National Association for Student Affairs, also said: “The solidarity model is a social achievement that is now in danger of collapsing.”

What solutions are being proposed?

The Conference of Transport Ministers (VMK), has formed a working group of representatives from the federal and state governments to develop proposals for a more affordable version of the €49 ticket targeting low-income groups like students.

READ ALSO: Germany’s most popular state plans discounted €49 ticket

According to the spokesperson for NRW Transport Minister Oliver Krischer (Greens), who currently leads the Conference of State Transport Ministers, their objective is to introduce a discounted model by the winter semester, though no concrete outcomes have been achieved so far.

One potential solution could be a nationwide semester ticket that is considerably cheaper than the €49 ticket. This alternative has already been given a name: the “Deutschlandticket Uni” (Germany Ticket for Universities).

But introducing this would require an agreement between the federal government and Germany’s 16 states, not only on the question of whether and how much funding they are willing to provide but also on reaching a consensus on the conditions.

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