The one-off payment is tax-free and is intended to provide relief to students and specialist students in view of increased energy prices. But shortly before the deadline on October 2nd, the pot has not yet been fully exhausted.
A few days before the deadline, around one in five students and technical school students had not yet applied for the energy price flat rate that was introduced in the spring.
As can be seen from the website “Einmalzahl200.de”, operated by the federal and state governments, a good 2.791 million students have received the energy price flat rate so far (as of September 26th). The number of successfully submitted applications is therefore a good 2.799 million.
This means that around a fifth of those entitled have not made use of the payment so far. When the aid was launched, it was assumed that there would be up to 3.4 million beneficiaries at universities, technical colleges and technical schools and the corresponding costs would be 680 million euros. Most recently, the federal government reportedly assumed that more than 3.55 million people would be entitled to the flat rate. According to the information, almost 558.3 million euros have been paid out so far.
According to the site, the money can still be applied for until October 2nd.
One-off payment is tax-free
The federal and state governments activated the nationwide application page in mid-March. The one-off payment of 200 euros is tax-free and is intended to cushion the rise in energy and food prices for students and technical school students.
The education policy spokeswoman for the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Ria Schröder, viewed the energy price flat rate as a complete success despite the lower number of applications than expected. From their point of view, it is not a bad thing that not everyone entitled to the payment took advantage of the payment. “Not all students or technical school students are poor and dependent on help,” said Schröder to the “Rheinische Post” (Friday).
According to the newspaper, the education policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Oliver Kaczmarek, also referred to successes. At the same time, in view of the figures, he admitted that “for the future we need automatic procedures and target group-oriented communication in order to really help all those affected to achieve their legal rights.”
Source: Stern
