No, you can only apply if you are enrolled in your major field of study at Freie Universität for the entire funding period.

If you are enrolled in a degree program at Freie Universität Berlin offered in partnership with other universities (find a list of all these degree programs here), the following applies:

You can only apply for the scholarship at Freie Universität Berlin if you will be enrolled as a student at Freie Universität Berlin as your primary place of study during the funding period you are applying for and your administrative fees and contributions are paid to Freie Universität Berlin. If you are unsure about which university is your primary place of study, contact the examination office in your department. If Freie Universität Berlin is not your primary place of study, you may check with your primary university if they award Deutschlandstipendium scholarships and apply there.

If your grades obtained at a cooperating university are not automatically listed in Campus Management at Freie Universität, please attach to your application, in addition to the transcript of records from the Campus Management of Freie Universität Berlin, a preliminary grade report including the grades converted into the German grading system. Please do not submit transcripts of records in a foreign language. To obtain the converted grades, please contact the administrative office responsible for your degree program.

With regard to application periods, the Deutschlandstipendium program calculates your subject semester in terms of the entire degree program, not just the subject semesters spent at Freie Universität Berlin.
Example: You are studying in a double degree program in which you spend the first two semesters abroad. During this time, you are enrolled at Freie Universität Berlin but you are on leave of absence ("beurlaubt"). If you now want to apply for a Deutschlandstipendium for your third semester in the program, but it is only your first official subject semester at Freie Universität Berlin, you still must apply during the application period for enrolled students in a higher semester.

If you are applying to Freie Universität as a first-year student, or at some later point in your studies, you can also apply for a Deutschlandstipendium scholarship. Your scholarship application is processed by the Deutschlandstipendium office and is not connected with your university application. You can check the application deadlines here.

However, you can only apply for a Deutschlandstipendium if you have already received your acceptance letter from Freie Universität or have already accepted the offer for a study placement here and have enrolled for your first semester at Freie Universität.

For entering first-time students, the selection process will take into account the grade on your university entrance qualification.

Yes, if you are enrolled at Freie Universität Berlin or have been accepted here, you can apply for a scholarship. But you must be a degree-seeking student at Freie Universität. If you are not pursuing a degree at Freie Universität and are only here for a few semesters (e.g. as an Erasmus student or as part of another exchange program), you unfortunately cannot apply.

Students from all countries are welcome to apply if they fulfil the eligibility criteria.

We would like to remind you again that you cannot get a study placement at Freie Universität Berlin by applying for a Deutschlandstipendium. At the time of application, you must already have received your acceptance notification or already be enrolled in the first semester (or higher) of your degree program.

No, we would like to remind you again here that you cannot get a study placement at Freie Universität Berlin by applying for a Deutschlandstipendium. At the time of application, you must already have received your acceptance notification or already be enrolled in the first semester (or higher) of your degree program.

Yes, it does. You must be within the standard time to degree for your program during the entire funding period, that is during both winter semester and summer semester.

There is no minimum grade point average required to apply to the Deutschlandstipendium program. However, one of the main criteria is a strong academic record either in secondary school or at university. The Deutschlandstipendium program has a broader understanding of performance and also looks at other criteria (see here).

Whether or not you receive a scholarship thus depends on your grades, university credits you have already earned, and other selection criteria. Your chances of success also depend on the number of scholarships available in a given funding year, as well as on the number of applicants and their aptitude.

If your grades are good, but you feel uncertain about applying, we always recommend that you go ahead and apply anyway. The application process is much less involved than with other scholarship programs, and besides: you have nothing to lose.

Yes. Please submit all required documents again in an updated version.

After completing a course of study (e.g. Bachelor's degree), you must normally re-apply for a Deutschlandstipendium if you are starting another study program (e.g. your Master's). If your Bachelor's program ends in winter semester and your Master's starts in the subsequent Master's semester you would usually have to wait for one semester to re-apply, since an application is only possible for the winter semester.

However, we created a bridging opportunity, which enables you to be funded for two semesters, instead of just one, by the Deutschlandstipendium (the last semester in your Bachelor's at Freie Universität Berlin (winter semester) and the first semester in your Master's at Freie Universtiät Berlin in summer semester). Please not that this only applies if your Bachelor's programs ends during the winter semester and you will start a consecutive Master's program in the next summer semester.

Please upload this form (only available in German) at the designated place in the online application system. You have to submit this form with your online-application for a Deutschlandstipendium. Please read the information in the application form carefully. You have to apply again for a Deutschlandstipendium for the second semester (winter semester) of your master’s degree.

The answer depends on the amount and type of scholarship funding. As a general rule, if someone is already receiving merit-based financial support of more than 30 euros per month on average, they cannot receive the Deutschlandstipendium on top of that. Here is a list with details on the compatibility of other scholarships with the Deutschlandstipendium (PDF, 386 KB, information in German only).

Need-based financial support or funding based on other criteria can be combined with the Deutschlandstipendium scholarship. Non-material support from other sources is also admissible, for example, through mentoring programs.

The Deutschlandstipendium is not factored into funding through BaföG or as part of child benefit payments.

If you are the recipient of a full DAAD scholarship (as part of the Carlo-Schmid-Program for internships in international organisations and EU-institutions, RISE e.g.), you are not eligible to receive the Deutschlandstipendium, since both are merit-based. However, you can suspend the Deutschlandstipendium for the period of your full DAAD scholarship. If you only have a partial DAAD scholarship, you can receive both stipends during the same period. The following DAAD scholarships can be combined with the Deutschlandstipendium:

• Bachelor Plus (DAAD)
• Go East (DAAD)
• Travel grants for internships abroad (DAAD)
• Short-term stipends for internships abroad (DAAD)
• PROMOS (DAAD)
• STIBET (DAAD)
• Cooperation Programme with Columbia (with COLFUTURO)

More information on receiving multiple scholarships is available in German here.

Yes, BaföG and the Deutschlandstipendium are complementary programs. In principle, students can receive both scholarships at the same time without any deductions. Adjustments to the amount would only be made if a student receives more than a monthly average of over 300 euros due to receiving multiple scholarships. When it comes to saving scholarship funds, the usual calculations concerning personal assets apply, meaning that the 5,200-euro savings limit is not adjusted if you receive a scholarship.

No, as a rule the Deutschlandstipendium does not affect payments for other social benefits, such as unemployment benefits.

However, housing subsidies (Wohngeld) are an exception. For other questions concerning scholarships and housing subsidies, please contact your local housing subsidies office (Wohngeldstelle).

Receiving the Deutschlandstipendium does not affect child allowances received by the student’s parents.

The Scholarship Program Act (StipG) does not categorize the Deutschlandstipendium scholarship as taxable income or income that requires social security payments.

In accordance with Section 2 of the German Scholarship Program Act (Stipendienprogramm-Gesetz), Freie Universität Berlin is required to review Deutschlandstipendium scholarship holders’ performance at least once a year. To complete this process, we ask that you provide us with the following:

1.    A filled out “Information on Your Current Program Status” form

2.    An as-sessment of your academic records by a professor or teacher o your subject of study

3.    Your current transcript of records

The documents have to be submitted by May, 31st. We will provide you with forms for point no. 1 and 3 over the course of the summer semester and remind you to submit the required documents.

Please inform the Deutschlandstipendium office of any changes in the circumstances that are significant for the payment of the scholarship by sending an e-mail to deutschlandstipendium@fu-berlin.de.

These include:

• Changes related to your studies (change of subject, leave of absence, end of studies, etc.)

• Study-related stays abroad (including details of the period and location and, if applicable, further financial support)

• Changes to your address and contact details

• Changes to your bank details

• Information on the receipt of further performance-related financial study grants

If you are on leave for personal or family reasons, such as a pregnancy, child raising responsibilities, or taking care of family members, your scholarship will be put on hold and not paid out. When you resume your studies, your scholarship will be extended for the length of time you were on leave. If you are on leave for a semester abroad or an internship that is required by your program, you will continue to receive the scholarship. No extensions are granted in this case.

There is an important distinction here to be made between domestic or foreign internships required in your program and other types of internships. Students can continue to receive scholarship payments if they partake in internships in Germany or abroad that are required as part of their degree program. The same applies to semesters abroad. If a scholarship recipient takes a leave of absence in order to do an internship of a different kind, which is not part of the curriculum, the scholarship payments will be suspended during the period of leave.

The university decides on a case by case basis if students can continue to receive scholarship payments while doing a voluntary internship that does not require a leave of absence. Deciding factors might include, for example, whether or not the internship causes an interruption in the student’s progress toward degree completion. Depending on the curriculum, this might not apply to internships that take place during semester breaks or that only last a short period of time (less than six weeks).

You will continue to receive scholarship payments during your study abroad. Payments continue regardless of whether or not you have taken a leave of absence from the university that granted you the scholarship. If you are studying abroad through the ERASMUS+ program, you will continue to receive the Deutschlandstipendium scholarship even if you are also the recipient of a mobility grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

You need to inform the Deutschlandstipendium office at your university if you are planning to study abroad.

Please refere to this page for an answer.

Yes. Please inform us as soon as you know that you will spend a semester or more abroad, for either study visits or internships. Please give information on the expected dates of your stay abroad and if you receive further financial support from other scholarship programs during this time.