...Finally a decision from the BaföG office?

In my last entry, I wrote about my motivation for founding the local chapter of ArbeiterKind.de in Mainz. Today I want to share some of the experiences I have had through my activities for this organization as well as those of my friends.

One statement comes immediately to mind for me:

“I didn’t tell them that I was receiving BaföG [educational loans and grants available from the state in Germany]. And I felt so terrible as they were criticizing ‘all of those cheaters who would steal money from the state’.”

I vividly remember how a friend told me about this situation. I could still see how much she had been hurt by her fellow students who were trashing recipients of BaföG. My friend is a hard-working young woman who always worked to support herself while studying. But she couldn’t earn enough money to pay for all of her expenses. She didn’t want to cheat anybody but just needed the money to be able to do her degree. Her family couldn’t finance her studies.

“The biggest issue is that many people don’t know how much information you need to give to the agency for receiving BaföG,” my friend told me. Through my work for ArbeiterKind.de, I know what she meant by that: You have to fill out piles of papers, and you need a lot of official documents that prove that neither you nor your parents earn or have saved more money than the regulations allow. This situation is especially difficult for students who don’t have any contact with their parents any more. The agencies normally don’t allow applications with missing documents, and it can be quite dramatic for young people to try to get back in touch with their families.

When we go to schools with ArbeiterKind.de, many students ask us how much BaföG they can count on. We can’t tell them. While there is an online calculator, the legal rules that define how much every person can receive are very complicated. Thus, normally, you can’t be sure whether you’ll get a student loan or not – nor how much money you’ll receive. The maximum amount you can receive is 670 Euro a month. Depending on the city you live in, this isn’t a lot of money. Moreover, students regularly have to turn in new requests for the funds. So they often do not know for sure how much money they will receive in the coming months.

There’s also the issue that it takes a long time from the time of requesting BaföG until you receive a decision. During that time, you don’t get any money. This is a terrible situation for young people depending on this state loan.

Many incoming students don't know all of their options when it comes to funding

What we realized by talking to parents and students who don’t know the BaföG system is that many are afraid of taking on debt. We explain to them that half of the loans don’t have to paid back to the state and that there is no interest on the other half. Martin, one of our mentors from ArbeiterKind.de, always explains it this way: “Of every euro you spend from your BaföG money, 50 cents are a present to you. So don’t be a fool. If you are in a financially tight situation, apply for BaföG.” While explaining, he always draws a circle and divides it into two halves, symbolizing what you have to pay back and what you are given for free.

Another thing many parents and even teachers don’t know is that high school students can receive BaföG, too. I never miss out on the chance to inform classes about this possibility whenever I’m making a presentation in a classroom. BaföG is a great opportunity to receive support – but as with scholarships and other benefits, often the people that need them most don’t know about them, have unjustified worries or wrong information. With ArbeiterKind.de, we try to work against this lack of information and to support people in the sticky situation of asking for help from the state.

Two fellow activists and I worked at a stand for first-year students

Four years ago, I founded a local chapter of ArbeiterKind.de in Mainz, the city where I studied. The non-profit organization ArbeiterKind.de supports children whose parents didn’t attend university as they pursue college degrees. After I read an article about ArbeiterKind.de, I decided that I definitely had to support the organization for two reasons.

First, in the article Katja Urbatsch, the founder of ArbeiterKind.de, described the typical challenges for children of non-academic families after they finish high school. Many barriers seemed familiar to me: The insecurity about the value of studying certain subjects, like the humanities. A question I struggled with in the beginning was: Wouldn’t it be better to work and earn money immediately after high school? Later, the confusion arising from the task of writing initial academic papers was tough for me.
Statistics quoted in the article and those following in the years to come gave me even more motivation to support ArbeiterKind.de. Results of surveys show that children of parents who didn’t earn college degrees are far less likely to finish their Abitur (the German high school certificate allowing students to enroll in a university). Even those who receive their Abitur decide to study at universities less often than the children of parents with an academic background. Scholarship programs may even aggravate the situation. They support gifted students financially, with seminars and a strong network, and they are co-financed by the German state. But only 30 percent of the students receiving a scholarship from the biggest German foundations have parents without an Abitur. These are just average numbers. In some foundations, there are only 10 to 20 percent! It is just impossible that talent, thirst for knowledge, and intelligence are prevalent at such a higher degree among children of academics than among children of parents who didn’t earn degrees or who have no Abitur.

So, I became angry: Something was going wrong in our educational system. And I saw an opportunity to do something against this inequality by supporting ArbeiterKind.de.

Members of ArbeiterKind.de at a workshop

Many have found their very personal reasons for supporting our organization. ArbeiterKind.de has grown to more than 4,000 members. Moreover, ArbeiterKind.at was founded in Austria last year. To enable high school students to really decide about whether they want to study or not, we give them as much information as possible. Studying is no matter of course for children who are first generation college students in their families. They must justify why they want to study – just as kids of academics have to justify why they don’t want to study if they diverge from their family’s academic tradition.

My friends from ArbeiterKind.de and I go to schools and make presentations about the different possibilities for earning a college degree and financing one’s studies. I also post tips on Facebook daily. Moreover, we participate in fairs and events on education. Last but not least, we offer an online network where we answer questions and give information.

Many people put their minds to ease by pointing out that there aren’t any (or, in Bavaria and Lower Saxony, just low) tuition fees and that we have BaföG (student loans granted by the state). But this isn’t enough. Most importantly, BaföG can’t be regarded as a magic bullet. These loans don’t suffice to ensure equal chances in education. I will write more about BaföG and other support mechanisms at earlier stages in the German educational system in my next blog entry.

Kenya's job market is taking some twists and turns

Last time, I wrote about how the competition in the job market in Kenya is getting stiffer by the day. More and more people now have master’s degrees, for example. The question is: Where does that leave those who cannot afford to climb the education ladder that high?

There are other options. One can go to a tertiary college. I have several cousins and other relatives who did not have the finances to go on to university once they finished high school, even though they had worked hard enough to get grades that would have been sufficient for entering a university.
So the next best place for them was a polytechnic or a college, which usually require two years of study to earn a certificate or a diploma. I recognize that other countries may have a different meaning for diploma. For us, the PhD is regarded as the highest educational level, then the master’s degree, then the bachelor’s, then a diploma and, at the bottom, is a certificate.

Those with just a diploma cannot compete for the same jobs as people with a master’s. Needless to say, most of my cousins did not stand much of a chance at a white-collar job. Most of them resorted to starting a business or farming, which is also a viable option. The girls mostly got married off.

But for those who want to attend university, there are other options for financing education such as government loans and bursaries from the state – including from local governments. I received a government loan, which I am still repaying. The funds offered are usually sufficient to pay for fees in a state university with just enough left over as pocket money.

What happens in this system is that the space for creativity and for nurturing talent in areas like art and music is almost non-existent – a problem different from the one Hellgurd discussed in Iraq.  That is because studying these fields is not regarded as education! Parents generally frown on their children if they say that they would like to be musicians or artists when they grow up.

There are a few people who have had an education in music, art, drama or similar areas, but people tend to consider that as involving talent and entertainment – not education.

Personally, I think it’s important to find a balance between what one is good at, where one’s strengths lie and what puts food on the table.