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Student support
Governmental student support includes comprehensive measures and services with the objective to give all interested groups of people the possibility of a tertiary education. The legal basis for student support measures is the Student Support Act (Studienförderungsgesetz, StudFG) 1992, which regulates student grants and other student support measures. The student support measures and services are implemented by the Federal Grant Authority (Studienbeihilfenbehörde). The Federal Grant Authority has offices in Vienna (for tertiary educational institutions in Vienna, Burgenland and Lower Austria), Graz, Klagenfurt, Linz, Innsbruck (for tertiary educational institutions in Tyrol and Vorarlberg) and in Salzburg.
Requirements for eligibility are laid down in section 3 of the Student Support Act 1992 for Austrian citizens, and in section 4 for foreigners with the same status as Austrian citizens and for stateless persons.
The Act regulates, among others, for students at Universities of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschulen) the requiements for eligibility of student grants in section 6 ant the proof of a satisfactory academic performance (i.e., examiniations have been passed according to curricula, and that the legal duration of studies has not been significantly exceeded) in section 20.
Moreover, other student support measures like financial support for public transport passes and travel expenses, insurance premiums, grants for the phase of completion of the study programmes (Studienabschluss-Stipendium), study allowances and the refund of tuition fees are laid down in section 52. Study-abroad grants (study support, study grants, support for travel expenses and grants for language courses abroad) are regulated in section 53. Grants for excellence (section 57), grants for various purposes (Förderungsstipendien) (section 63) and grants for the needy (section 68) are also part of the Student Support Act.
Various criteria apply in the determination of wether someone is eligible for receiving a student grant. They include, for example: social status, academic performance (section 20), minimum study period or its excession, age at the time of starting the degree programme, and that no other programme or equivalent enrolment has already been completed.
Further information:
» ÖAD Grants Database (ÖAD)
Family allowance
The federal family allowance can be considered as "indirect" student support. In principle, the family allowance is a governmental aid coming from the Family Burdens Equalisation Fund and is usually paid out by the employer. It is not the child or adolescent who is eligible but the legal guardian who lives in the same household as the child. The amount of the family allowance depends on the age and the number of children. At present, the allowance is granted for people up to their 26th birthday if they are in vocational training, which may include attending a Fachhochschule degree programme. Pregnant women, mothers with child, persons who carried out their mandatory military service or alternative service as well as persons with significant disabilities in vocational training are eligible for family allowance up to their 27th birthday. In order to receive family allowance, performance has to be proven on a regular basis and income limits must not be exceeded; the current limit is an annual income of € 9,000 (€ 8,725 until the end of 2007). The legal guardians of the students have to apply for family allowance at the Inland Revenue Office. |
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