Organizations for the promotion of young talent

A scholarship provides financial and non-material support for students and young academics and serves to promote talented students. The best-known scholarship providers are the 13 large foundations for gifted students. However, there are also a large number of smaller and larger foundations that support students from a wide variety of backgrounds. There are over 2,000 scholarship providers in Germany alone.

Financial support
The 13 major foundations for gifted students are funded by the state and must adhere to certain rules when providing financial support. As a scholarship holder, you can receive a basic scholarship and a book allowance.

The basic scholarship is based on the BAföG and amounts to 735 euros. In addition, you may have to pay health and long-term care insurance contributions of 73 euros. How much money you actually receive each month is calculated based on the BAföG rules and depends on your income and the income of your parents.

You will always receive the book allowance of 300 euros per month. Regardless of how much you or your parents earn.

The funding arrangements are usually quite different for smaller foundations. They often do not support you in the same way as BAföG. They set their own funding rates, funding conditions and funding targets.

Non-material support
In larger foundations in particular, you will also receive non-material support as a scholarship holder bybenefiting from a broad program of support and events. Each organization has a different focus based on the different ideological orientations and objectives of the foundations.

For example, you can obtain individual advice from the employees or liaison lecturers of the respective sponsoring organizations on topics such as study progression or career planning.

Many foundations offer you a varied program of seminars and events on cultural, political and academic topics. You can network with students from all over Germany and with scholarship holders from your university and learn more about interesting topics.

In principle, all students and school leavers can apply for a scholarship. There is a misconception among students that scholarships require particular success at school and university and a high level of talent and are therefore only available to a small group of people.

However, scholarship providers in Germany award their scholarships according to very different criteria. In addition to academic performance, some foundations consider it positive if you identify with their political values or are socially involved in various areas.

Other foundations award scholarships to students with certain personal characteristics, for example with previous professional training, a migration background, certain subjects or to students who have disabilities or chronic illnesses.

You too can find scholarship offers that match your personal profile.

How you can apply for the various scholarships varies greatly from one funding organization and foundation to another.

You often have to write a letter of motivation in which you explain why you are applying for the scholarship. Your CV and certificates are also required. Some foundations require reports from professors or teachers who assess your performance at university or school. Find out in advance which application documents are required by the foundation of your choice.

Applying to the German National Academic Foundation is more complicated. Here you must be nominated by your school principal (directly after your Abitur) or by university lecturers. You can also apply to the Studienstiftung yourself, but you will then have to pass a selection test.

As many scholarship providers can accept you for funding at an early stage, you should apply early. Pay attention to the deadlines set by the scholarship provider.

There are 13 major funding organisations in Germany that award scholarships to suitable students. Among the most important are the six political foundations, each of which is orientated towards a political party.

If you are looking for a foundation that you feel close to politically, you can apply to the relevant party-affiliated foundations. You can also apply to denominationally orientated foundations and to the foundations of the German Trade Union Confederation (Hans Böckler Foundation) and employers (Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft).