germanyberlinscholarshipscost of living
Deutschlandstipendium reaches 33,500 recipients in 2025
Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reported on 25 June 2026 that 33,500 students held a Deutschlandstipendium in 2025, up 1.5% on 2024 and equal to 1.2% of all enrolled students. The scholarship is open to any nationality studying at a German university, pays €300 a month, and doesn’t count against BAföG. Several universities, including Freie Universität Berlin, have 2026/27 application windows open right now.
What changed
- Destatis published full 2025 figures for the Deutschlandstipendium (Germany Scholarship), Germany’s national merit-and-engagement scholarship, showing 33,500 recipients nationwide, a 1.5% rise on 2024.
- Private sponsors, companies, foundations and individuals, raised €35 million for the programme in 2025, itself up 1.4% on the previous year. The federal government matches every private euro, so the total pool roughly doubles what donors put in.
- Recipients are far from evenly spread. Saarland had the highest share of students on the scholarship at 1.9%. Berlin and Thuringia had the lowest, at just 0.6% each.
- The award stays at €300 a month, split evenly between the federal government and a private sponsor, for a minimum of two semesters and up to the end of your standard study period.
Who it affects
- International students already enrolled at a German public university. Eligibility isn’t restricted by nationality or citizenship, only by enrolment and academic or personal merit, so this applies to you as much as a German student.
- Anyone studying in Berlin or Thuringia, where the scholarship reaches a smaller share of the student body than almost anywhere else in Germany, meaning more applicants are chasing fewer awards per capita.
- Students planning their 2026/27 funding and deciding whether to add a Deutschlandstipendium application to their DAAD or blocked-account plans, since the three aren’t mutually exclusive.
What you should do
- Check your own university’s application window directly. Freie Universität Berlin’s 2026/2027 round runs from 16 July to 13 August 2026, but every institution sets its own dates and there’s no single national deadline.
- Don’t build your budget around winning one. It’s a genuinely useful €3,600 a year, but selection is competitive and university-run, not guaranteed, so treat it as a bonus alongside your core funding, not a substitute. Our cost of living in Germany guide covers what you’ll need regardless.
- If you’re still assembling proof of funds for a student visa, remember the Deutschlandstipendium doesn’t replace blocked-account or other financial-proof requirements. See our Germany visas guide for what actually satisfies that test.
- Ask your international office whether translated documents are required with your application. Many universities ask for German, English or French versions of supporting paperwork from non-German applicants.
What hasn’t changed
The monthly amount, €300, and the funding split, half federal, half private, are unchanged from previous years. It’s still income-independent and doesn’t reduce any BAföG entitlement you might separately qualify for. What’s new here is simply how many students actually received one in 2025, and where in Germany you’re statistically more or less likely to be among them.