In order to finance their studies and pay for the general tuition fees, (first-year) students were entitled to a loan from the Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg (L-Bank) (state credit bank Baden-Würtemberg) when and if they fulfilled certain preconditions, irrespective of the choice of study programme and parental income. The entitlement period included the standard period of study required to complete the undergraduate study programme plus four additional semesters. For consecutive master's programmes, students were entitled to a loan for the standard period of study plus any remaining loan-semesters that were not applied during the bachelor's programme.
Students were entitled to a loan at the L-Bank if they:
- were German
- were EU or EWR citizens
- were relatives of a EU or EWR citizens (e.g. spouses)
- were foreigners without a homeland
- Students with foreign citizenship or those without a homeland who had acquired their higher education entrance qualification in Germany.
Those who were not entitled included students who were older than 40 years. Students in not-consecutive master's programmes also were not entitled to a loan from the L-Bank.
The university verified the application whether or not the preconditions for the loan entitlement were met and subsequently informed the student and the L-Bank via the so-called assessment notification.
Irrespective of the L-Bank application, (first-year) students could also take out low-interest rate loans from other banks. Seezeit student services can provide consultation regarding loans from private banks.
Loan repayment:
The loan had to be repaid two years after graduation, or after the loan entitlement period had ended (§ 8 ff Studiengebührenverordnung - StudGebVO) (state tuition fees regulations). Furthermore, repayment did not have to begin until a certain net income level had been reached (lastly 1,170 euros per month, plus 535 euros for the unemployed spouse and 485 euros for every child). The monthly repayment rates were between 50 and 150 euros.