Financial support for students in emergency situations

Grant from the student council (StuRa):

An application for financial support can be submitted by all students enrolled at the University of Leipzig to the StuRa’s Social Counseling Service once within a 12-month period (this is not pandemic-related support). This is a one-time grant of up to 400€. This grant is non-repayable. Foreign students are expressely included in the group allowed to apply for this grant and doing so has no negative effect on their student-visa.\

In assessing whether a financial hardship exists, the individual’s income for the last 90 days prior to application, minus rent and electricity/heating costs, will be taken into account. The income (all income from secondary activities as well as private sales or other support such as BAföG, housing allowance, child benefit or support for the family, etc.) minus rent (incl. utility costs) of the last 3 months should not exceed the standard requirement of 449€/month for a single person. The standard need for families has a different amount accordingly (e.g. 1,093€/month for a family with a child under 5).

Students who find themselves in such a short-term financial emergency can contact the Social Counseling Service. To receive the application-form and informational materials on this matter, please send an email from your university-email-adress to: sozialberatung@stura.uni-leipzig.de. Please note that processing applications may take several weeks, depending on the workload.

Loans from StuRa:

You can apply for a social loan from the StuRa in the amount of the current semester fee (for example, in the 2023 summer semester it is 255.50 €). The loan serves to bridge a short-term financial strait and can also be used for other purposes than the payment of the semester fee. The term of the loan is 3 months. Students who receive a loan from the StuRa cannot receive a grant (see above) as long as the loan has not been repaid. The loan application can be downloaded on this website (on the right, section “Downloads”). A copy of the student enrollment certification and personal documents as well as the residence permit (applies to students from non-EU countries) and passport must be attached to the application. Please note that you also need to sign on the second application page.

Apply for the loan with all documents to: buchhaltung@stura.uni-leipzig.de

Assistance for foreign students:

The association “Hilfe für ausländische Studieren in Leipzig e.V.” (“Support for foreign students in Leipzig”) supports foreign students in short-term financial emergencies through private donations. There you can apply once a year for a grant of up to 500€, which does not have to be paid back. The application form and more information on how to apply can be found here: https://stud.uni-leipzig.de/hausle/sis.html