The course contribution is tied to the actual course and examination fees, so it pays to compare formats: classroom teaching at a local training centre, or distance learning alongside your job. Distance schools such as sgd↗ and ILS↗ prepare for the same Meister, Techniker and Fachwirt examinations, and their fees fall under exactly the item the law covers up to 15,000 euro.
Understand what is actually paid
The support has two distinct parts: a contribution to course costs and, only for full-time courses, a contribution to living costs. Not all of it is repayable — half the course contribution never is.
✓ Verified: 11/08/2026
WHAT TO DO
DOCUMENTS 2
› Details and tips
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Max recommends:
Calculate the two parts separately. Many people dismiss the scheme at the word loan and miss that half the course contribution is never repayable at all.
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Lea recommends:
Full-time and part-time formats produce different entitlements. Before choosing a school, work out which part matters more to you — the fees or the money to live on.
Useful Tools
- Weiterbildungssuche der Bundesagentur education
Official training search: shows courses that the employment agency funds through a voucher.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How much is available for the course itself? ▾
The law states a ceiling: course and examination fees are funded up to a total of 15,000 euro. Separately, producing the practical piece for the Meister examination is funded up to half the necessary material costs, capped at 2,000 euro.
Is this a loan or a grant? ▾
Both. Fifty per cent of the course contribution is paid as a grant and is not repaid. Beyond that, the law gives you a right to conclude a loan agreement with the KfW — that part is repaid.
What is the living contribution? ▾
A separate part, paid only for full-time courses. The requirement follows a mechanism the law takes from BAföG, and it rises by 60 euro for the participant, by 235 euro for a spouse or civil partner and by 235 euro for each child for whom child benefit is due.
Does the living contribution have to be repaid? ▾
No. The law states expressly that the living contribution including its supplements, and the childcare supplement, are paid in full as a grant.
Is my income taken into account? ▾
For the living contribution, yes: the applicants income and assets and the spouses or partners income are set off in that order. The course contribution is built differently and does not depend on income in this way.