Berufsausbildungsbeihilfe: The Grant for Trainees Living Away From Home
Anyone who moves to another city for an apprenticeship in Germany quickly notices that training pay rarely covers rent, a monthly transit pass, food and work clothing. The vocational training allowance — Berufsausbildungsbeihilfe, or BAB — exists precisely for this gap. It is paid by the Federal Employment Agency (Agentur für Arbeit), is a pure grant and never has to be repaid. Even so, many trainees never apply, often because they assume their parents earn too much anyway.
This guide explains who is entitled to BAB, how the need is made up, how training pay and parental income are counted and how to apply. You can recalculate every figure with your own numbers in the BAB calculator.
Legal basis: sections 56 to 72 SGB III
BAB is governed by Book III of the German Social Code (SGB III), the employment promotion law. Section 56 SGB III sets three conditions: the vocational training must be eligible for funding, you must belong to the eligible group of persons, and you must not have the means for living costs, travel costs and other expenses available otherwise. For counting income, the law largely refers to the Federal Training Assistance Act (BAföG). If you know school or student BAföG, you will recognise many of the allowances.
Who gets BAB?
Under section 57 SGB III, the first vocational training in a state-recognised occupation is eligible — in a company or with an external training provider, with a signed training contract. Purely school-based training, for example at a full-time vocational school, is not covered; school BAföG may apply there instead. A second training is only funded in exceptional cases, when lasting integration into work cannot be achieved any other way.
Under section 60 SGB III, you belong to the eligible group if you live outside your parents' household. If you are under 18, single and have no children, you need a reason: the training place must not be reachable from your parents' home in reasonable time. This distance condition does not apply if you are at least 18, are or were married or in a civil partnership, live with at least one child of your own, or cannot live with your parents for serious social reasons. A 19-year-old trainee who moves into their own flat in the same city can therefore in principle receive BAB.
Pre-vocational training measures are a special case. BAB is available there even if you still live with your parents — but with different rates that this guide does not cover in detail.
The need: €822 plus travel costs and flat rates
The amount of BAB is always a difference: need minus countable income. For the need, section 61 SGB III refers to BAföG. Trainees with their own flat get the basic need under section 13(1) no. 1 BAföG of €442 plus the accommodation flat rate under section 13(2) no. 2 BAföG of €380. Together that is €822 per month — the value applicable since 1 August 2024. If the legislator changes the BAföG rates, the BAB need changes automatically.
Further items are added to this base amount. Under section 63 SGB III, travel costs between your accommodation, the training company and vocational school are covered, usually at the price of the cheapest monthly public transport pass. If commuting daily from the parents' home is unreasonable, one trip home to the family per month is also taken into account. Section 64 SGB III adds a flat rate of €16 per month for work clothing and €160 per child for looking after children who need supervision.
Important: the €380 housing flat rate is fixed. If your rent is higher, the need does not increase. Separate rules apply to residential homes, boarding schools or accommodation with full board provided by the training company.
How your training pay is counted
Your own income is counted first. The basis is gross training pay, from which a social flat rate of 22.3 percent is deducted (section 21(2) BAföG). €1,000 gross thus becomes €777. Work-related expenses such as commuting may not be deducted under section 67(2) SGB III — travel costs are already part of the need.
If the training place cannot be reached from the parents' home in reasonable time, a further €85 of the pay remains uncounted. In the example, €692 is then counted. Someone who moves into their own flat close to the parental home at 18, however, does not get this allowance. The pay foreseeable at the time of application is decisive; if it rises in the second year of training, this is taken into account.
How your parents' income is counted
Next, the agency checks the parents' income — from the year before last before the approval period begins. For training starting in autumn 2026, that is usually 2024. Allowances under section 25 BAföG are deducted from net income: €2,540 for married parents or parents living together, €1,690 for one parent, plus €770 for each other child who is not in funded training. If commuting from the parents' home is unreasonable, another €901 is added under section 67 SGB III.
If income exceeds this total, the excess is not counted in full. 50 percent remains exempt, plus 5 percent for each child for whom a child allowance applies. If siblings receive BAföG or BAB themselves, the remaining parental contribution is split equally among all funded children. Details are in the article on parental income and allowances.
Worked example: age 19, own flat, €1,000 training pay
A 19-year-old trainee moves to a city 100 kilometres away for training. He earns €1,000 gross, the monthly pass costs €83 and one trip home per month €49. His married parents have a net income of €4,500, and he has a younger sister.
The need is €822 plus €16 work clothing plus €83 travel plus €49 trip home, €970 in total. From his pay, €777 minus the €85 allowance, i.e. €692, is counted. That leaves €278 open. The parents' allowances are €2,540 plus €770 plus €901, €4,211 in total. Of the €289 excess, 55 percent stays exempt, and €130.05 is counted. BAB therefore comes to €148 per month after rounding. This example matches the calculation in the Federal Employment Agency's official leaflet.
Application, approval and payment
You apply to the employment agency — online, in person or by phone. Apply before training starts if possible: if you apply later, benefits are paid retroactively at most from the start of the month of application. Approval is usually granted for 18 months at first, after which you need a continuation application. You must report changes in pay, housing or training without delay.
If your parents do not pay the counted maintenance or refuse to provide information, the agency can pay BAB in advance under section 68 SGB III and reclaim the money from the parents afterwards. Read more in the article on the BAB application and your first flat.
BAB, housing benefit and other support
Housing benefit (Wohngeld) is usually ruled out for trainees entitled to BAB: under section 20(2) of the Housing Benefit Act there is no housing benefit if all household members are in principle entitled to BAB or BAföG. You can roughly check whether your living situation still qualifies, for example in a shared flat with working people, with the housing benefit calculator. Students are covered by BAföG rather than BAB — the university cost calculator gives an overview of study costs. Parents who want to know what a child costs in total until the end of training will find guidance in the child cost calculator.
Avoid common mistakes
The most common mistake is not applying at all. The parental allowances are high: for married parents with one other child and unreasonable commuting, more than €4,200 net per month stays completely uncounted. A second mistake is applying late, because months before the month of application are lost. Third, many forget to state travel costs and trips home in full — even though they increase the need directly.
Conclusion
The vocational training allowance closes the gap between training pay and the cost of your own flat. The need of €822 plus travel costs and flat rates is fixed; what matters is your pay and your parents' income. With the BAB calculator you can see in a few minutes whether an application is worthwhile. The result is an estimate — the employment agency makes the binding decision.