Opinion
There is no right to educate as long as shared rooms are priceless
On average, students spend more than half of their income for the apartment, dormitory place or the shared apartment. Our author finds: This cannot go on like this.
Live for Student It’s just too expensive. But for years there have only been promises and announcements from politics – and nothing changes. New figures from the Federal Statistical Office show how much students suffer from these empty promises. They now spend 53 percent of their monthly income on average for their housing costs. In the case of students who live alone, the quota is still minimally higher at 54 percent. It is 37 percent among students who live with other students or trainees. This is significantly lower, but still clearly over the 25 percent living cost burden on the average of the overall German population. And higher than 30 percent recommended by experts as maximum rental costs.
In the meantime, the number of BAföG recipients has once again dropped to a new record low. Not that BAföG would change a lot about the situation of the students: the need for housing costs is 380 euros, while students, according to Moses Mendelsohn Institute, had to expect an average of living costs of 489 euros at the beginning of the last winter semester. In cities such as Munich, Stuttgart, Berlin or Hamburg, it almost borders a miracle if it succeeds in finding a room below 600 euros. But a BAföG reform does not seem to be in sight either.
Ex-Education Minister Anja Karliczek (CDU) would probably unpack her old saying that you don’t have to move to the most expensive cities to study. However, the numbers show that overloading due to housing costs is not a problem of individual students who are too fine for the small town. It is a comprehensive problem in many university cities.
And in general: not every study is possible in every city. In some courses, there are admission procedures in which the students cannot choose their city freely. And do we really want the financial situation to determine where to study and not the content of the course?
No new problem
The fact that the previous Federal Minister of Education, who had now commented on the last minister of education in her term, shows very clearly: The chronic overload of students as well as trainees in the case of housing costs is anything but a new message. For years, student representatives have been pointing out the increasingly drastic problem of student housing shortages. For years, in addition to the question of too little living space, it has always been about the exploding rents.
And every time there is great dismay when new surveys show that the average rental prices for shared rooms have risen again and that one record is chasing the next. Politicians will then be happy to emphasize that they want to campaign for young living. However, it is not much to be noticed for those affected. The program for young living, which the Federal Government had created under SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz, also only helps to a limited extent. How the new numbers prove again.
As well as, because the program explicitly relies on the construction and new construction of dormitories. However, the vast majority of students still live in dormitories, but whether they want or not, are dependent on the free housing market. Because the waiting lists for dormitories are felt in many cities. It is only to be hoped that it will be a little shorter for those for whom a dorm is suitable if the program is successful.
Pay or eat apartment rent?
There are no reliable figures on how many of the people who cancel their studies who only do because they can no longer afford it. Because the BAföG, which should be there to enable everyone to study, is not approved or too low. Because the rent for the shared apartment is simply no longer to be paid. Because at the end of the month they no longer want to choose between a meal and the punctual rental payment.
These ever increasing stress meet students from less wealthy layers, often people who are the first to study in their family. “Then the students should go to work,” it says often. But most people still do that next to their studies. And most frequently and most those without a financial network that are academically disadvantaged because they have less time to focus on the study content. The chain is endless. So much for equal opportunities.
In the end there is one thing above all: if we as a society seriously mean it with the equality of education and permeability of the education system, it also includes creating an environment in which the financial situation does not ensure that some doors are unavailable into the future. This includes the possibility of getting adequate financial support in order to complete an apprenticeship or study. However, this also includes not having to decide against a certain city due to too high rental costs or even to have to cancel the previous path completely. And politics also bears a responsibility that must finally do justice to it.
Source: Stern
