Despite the free education system in Germany, students have to arrange their financial means (scholarships and financing) to cover their living expenses. It is also important to uncover these financial means in the student visa applications. Otherwise, the German Embassy rejects issuing a study visa.
Students can arrange one of these financing options to get a study visa quickly. Options like scholarship and sponsor work alone, and no additional financial document require with these. But other options like blocked accounts can be more effective with personal or parent’s bank statements.
Top scholarships and financing options to study in Germany:
1. Scholarships
The scholarship is one of the best financing options to fund your studies in Germany. But these scholarships are usually offered only to excellent students. Pakistani students have two main options to get scholarships for Germany: HEC and Daad. Indian, Bangladeshi, and other students can skip HEC scholarships and continue to read the article from Daad scholarships.
HEC Scholarships
Pakistani students have the first option to get scholarships and financing from HEC (Higher Education Commission of Pakistan). Each year HEC offers scholarships to study in Germany for all fields of knowledge. HEC pay 950 euros per month in their funded scholarship program for Germany. Brilliant students always have more chances to get an HEC scholarship with high entry test scores. Don’t waste your time on HEC scholarships in case you have below-average marks.
DAAD-Scholarships
DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) is the largest German Academic Exchange Service that provides scholarships and financing to international students. It offers a wide range of scholarships and financing options for German universities’ doctoral and postdoctoral courses.
Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, and students from all other countries have the opportunity to get DAAD scholarships. Mostly, Daad offers these scholarships to students that have an excellent educational background. Depending on the academic level, Daad pays from 900 to 1300 euros per month to a scholarship awarded candidate.
- DAAD Exchange Program Scholarships Portal
- DAAD Exchange Program Scholarships for Summer Semester
- DAAD Exchange Program Scholarships for Winter Semester
DFG Scholarships
DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) is a self-governing research foundation in Germany. DFG gets fundings from the federal Government and other German states. This foundation provides scholarships to foreign students the same as DAAD.
Other Financing Options:
Students also have the opportunity to get a variety of funding programs offered by other German public-private institutes. These funding programs include:
The Deutschlandstipendium
The Deutschlandstipendium is a public-private combined program that financially supports excellent students. In this program, both private companies and the German Government contribute 150 euros for each funding-awarded student. As a result, the student gets 300 euros per month. However, this funding is not enough to cover living expenses in Germany. But it can be helpful if the student also does a part-time job along with studies.
Erasmus Scholarships
Erasmus is the biggest European student exchanging scheme. It offers scholarships to both EU and non-EU students. Erasmus scholarships provide fundings that fully cover all living and educational expenses. The Erasmus scholarship program also very famous among international students.
Max Planck Institute
Max Planck Institute is a private German research institute. It provides funding and research opportunities to master students who want to pursue a Ph.D. in Germany. This institute offers scholarships to all international students.
The Heinrich Böll Foundation
The Heinrich Böll Foundation is a German constitutionally autonomous political organization associated with German Green Party. This foundation also offers scholarships to international students for undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. programs.
DKFZ Ph.D. Scholarships
The DKFZ is Germany’s largest biomedical research institute. This institute offer Ph.D. scholarships to international students. This scholarship program is suitable for medical students.
Social and Religious Institutes
In Germany, many social and religious institutes like big churches also provide scholarships to international students. But mostly, these scholarships remain bound to religion or faith, like Cusanuswerk offers scholarships only to catholic students.
2. Blocked Account:
The most popular financing option to study in Germany is the block account. A blocked account is a particular type of bank account that must contain a certain amount and restrictions set by the German authorities.
Students require to open a blocked account in a German Bank or local bank (authorized by German missions) to get a visa. It is necessary to deposit 11,208 euros into this account. Students can withdraw only 861 euros per month from this account due to restrictions. In case you have a scholarship, funding, or sponsor letter, then a blocked account is not required to get a visa.
TIPs: It can be useful if a student uses a personal bank statement along with a blocked account. He must disclose around 1 to 1.5 million rupees in this personal account as savings. Or he can use the parent’s bank statement with the same amount. Students can also use all property and business documents along with the blocked accounts. These tricks can enhance the chances to get a student visa. If you don’t want to use these tricks, then ignore them.
3. Sponsor Letter:
Sponsor means a person’s proper surety to pay the living and educational costs of a student. A sponsor can be a blood relation or a friend residing in Germany. The student needs a sponsor letter (Verpflichtungserklärung) and six months of bank statement and income proof of the sponsor to get a study visa for Germany.
4. Disclosure of Parent Assets:
Students can also show the financial sources of the parents to get the visa. But these sources must assure that parents can pay the applicant’s living and educational expenses in Germany. Mostly in the case of Pakistani and Indian students, they work with blocked accounts, not alone. If you want to show the parents’ financial sources as financial support, you also have to provide a letter of the affidavit.
5. Bank Loan:
Unfortunately, bank loans or loan letters do not work for the German student visa. Many countries like Australia, accept loan letters but not Germany. So don’t use this.
FAQs about financing to study in Germany:
No, international students have no legal claims to get BAfög -funding.
International students need approximately 5,000 euros per year to study in Germany. They need this amount for both educational and living expenses.
