Information on data protection for education funding in accordance with BAföG

 Here you will find information about the processing of personal data by the Office for Educational Support if an application for educational support has been submitted or an application for study start-up aid, for which the Studierendenwerk Paderborn is responsible, as well as about your rights. This data protection information does not cover data processing in connection with a Application for advance payment according to § 36 BAföG, Please find below the special information on data protection for an application for advance payment according to § 36 BAföG. Overview:

1. Who can you contact, who is responsible for data processing?
2. For what purposes is your data processed?
3. What is the legal basis for processing your data?
4. What data is processed and where does it come from?
5. Who receives your data?
6. How long will your data be stored?
7. Is there an obligation to provide data?
8. What data protection rights do you have as a data subject?
9. How can you obtain further information?

 

1. who can you contact, who is responsible for data processing?

Name and contact details of the person responsible: Studierendenwerk Paderborn AöR

Office for Educational Support Mersinweg 2,

33100 Paderborn

Telephone: 05251/89207-101 E-Mail: gf@stwpb.de Internet: www.stwpb.de

Contact details of the data protection officer: Sabine Link, data protection officer of the offices for educational support at the Studierendenwerke NRW,

c/o Akademisches Förderungswerk AKAFÖ AöR, Universitätsstraße 150, 44801 Bochum E-Mail: datenschutz-bafoeg@studierendenwerke-nrw.de

 

2. for what purposes are your data processed?

If you have submitted an application for educational support in accordance with BAföG, or an application for study start-up assistance, or are obliged to cooperate in the processing of such an application, your personal data will be processed for the following purposes:

• Advice on financing your studies, in particular on your entitlement to educational support in accordance with the Federal Training Assistance Act (BAföG)
• Recording and processing the application for educational support, requesting complete information. If an application for advance payment is also submitted in accordance with § 36 BAföG, your data will also be processed for this purpose. Details on data processing, especially after an application for advance payment has been submitted, can be found in the special data protection information attached below
• Making all determinations necessary to decide on the application
• Decision on the application, issuance of an authorising or rejecting decision and, if necessary, amendment of the decision
• Decision on disbursements, administration and termination of the training grantReclaiming training grants wrongly received, including any deferral and enforcement measures
• Transmission of the necessary data to the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau or the Federal Office of Administration in accordance with their responsibilities for loan administration and recovery
• Processing any appeals lodged, issuing an objection notice and fulfilling our associated tasks and duties, in particular the proper maintenance of files, electronic data management in the BAföG specialist programme, evaluation for statistical purposes, as well as fulfilling all activities assigned to us as the Office for Training Assistance in accordance with the Federal Training Assistance Act (BAföG).

 

3. on what legal basis is your data processed?

The processing of personal data in the context of processing an application for educational support and in all activities in connection with BAföG benefits is carried out on the legal basis of Art. 6 para. 1 letter e GDPR in conjunction with § 41 BAföG and §§ 67 a and 67 b SGB X for the fulfilment of our tasks as the Office for Educational Support.

 

4. what data is processed and where does it come from?

The data categories can be seen from the data fields requested in the BAföG forms, forms and supplementary processing forms, in particular

• Master data, e.g. name, contact details, dates of birth, marital status and parenthood, nationality, bank details
• Asset data of applicant students, proof of assets
• Income of applicant students, parents, spouses or life partners, in particular income tax certificates, data on tenancy or housing conditions, employment, health, pension and long-term care insurance, maintenance claims, data on any disabilities or extraordinary burdens, if applicable
• Data on the granting of benefits and, if applicable, on reclaims, e.g. benefit period, amount and type, ability to pay in the event of reclaims, if applicable
• Data on your studies, in particular performance overview, health data relevant to the progress of your studies, if applicable

Processing data is also processed, such as receipt and dispatch data, file notes and other administrative data.

The data comes from the applicants themselves as well as from the sources named in the application forms, for example from parents, spouses or life partners. In addition, personal data is collected - insofar as this is legally permissible and necessary for the processing of the case - as part of the official investigation, e.g. when determining an address or when checking and processing information.

 

5 Who receives your data?

Your data is processed by the employees of the Studierendenwerk, by the respective responsible persons. Responsible are not only individual employees, but also the teams with deputies and superiors. Post and emails are forwarded internally for processing in accordance with the internal responsibility regulations, especially in the event of absence (holiday, illness, etc.).

The required data will be transmitted to those bodies that are responsible for loan administration or repayment in accordance with the statutory provisions in your respective student financing programme, in particular to the Federal Office of Administration and the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau.

To the extent permitted, service providers who process your data on a contractual basis and are obliged to observe data protection are also involved in the processing, in particular IT-NRW (Landesbetrieb Information und Technik Nordrhein-Westfalen) as an IT service provider and as a computer centre for the specialist programme for BAföG administration.

Your personal data may also be transmitted to the following recipients:

• The information provided in the application regarding your income and the income of your spouse or civil partner and, if applicable, the income of your parents can be checked with the responsible social benefit provider, social insurance provider, tax office and the respective employer as well as by means of an account enquiry in accordance with Section 93 (8) of the German Fiscal Code (AO) at the Federal Central Tax Office if the legal requirements for this are met.
• The information on your assets provided as part of the application can be checked by means of a data comparison (§ 41 Para. 4 BAföG in conjunction with § 45d EStG) and by means of an account enquiry in accordance with

§ Section 93 (8) of the German Fiscal Code (AO) at the Federal Central Tax Office if the legal requirements for this are met.

• The loans made, including the associated personal data, are transmitted by us to the Federal Office of Administration (BVA) for the purpose of loan collection (§ 39 para. 2 BAföG).
• If you are claiming educational support in the form of an interest-bearing bank loan from the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) in accordance with § 18c BAföG, the data required for loan reimbursement will be exchanged between KfW and the Federal Office of Administration (BVA). KfW transmits the disbursement data to us.
• Your data, in particular your address data or account information, will be forwarded to the responsible state treasury and from there to credit institutions (e.g. the trainee's account-holding bank) for the cash processing of the benefits (e.g. payment of the funds).
• In the event of an unpaid claim against you, your personal data will be passed on to the enforcement authorities responsible in the federal states, e.g. to the local courts and bailiffs responsible for enforcement, depending on the state enforcement law. This is possible, for example, if you have received an overpayment that we have reclaimed but you have not paid.
• Your data may be passed on to the competent authorities, in particular to the Cologne district government, for the purpose of exercising technical and legal supervision. This also applies in the event of audits by the State or Federal Audit Office (State Budget Code, Federal Budget Code).
• The data on the receipt of the health and long-term care insurance supplement is passed on to the Central Allowance Centre for Retirement Assets of the German Pension Insurance (ZfA) as part of the notification procedure in accordance with Section 10 (4b) EStG.
• As part of the application processing, pension offices may also be asked about your income and your data may be passed on to the relevant job centre/employment agency (ARGE) if the legal requirements are met.
• The information on the income of a parent, spouse or partner will be communicated to the student in the notification of grant (BAföG notification). Parents, the spouse or partner of the student can object to this data being passed on to the student, with the exception of the amount of income taken into account, stating their reasons (§ 50 Para. 2 S. 3 BAföG). The interests of the trainee will then be weighed up and the data will only be passed on if the interests of the trainee outweigh the objection.

In individual cases, further transmissions are possible within the legally permissible framework.

Your personal data will not be transferred to a third country or to an international organisation.

 

6 How long will your data be stored?

Your data will be stored after collection for as long as is necessary for the fulfilment of the respective task, taking into account the statutory retention regulations of the federal and state governments.

Personal data can be stored for up to 12 years after the last repayment of the BAföG loan before the data is finally deleted. BAföG funding files are generally destroyed or deleted 6 years after the end of the last maximum funding period. After the approval procedure has been completed, data relating to the application for study start-up aid will be stored for as long as is necessary for the fulfilment of the respective task, taking into account the statutory retention regulations of the federal and state governments - usually at least ten years.

 

7. is there an obligation to provide data?

If the information required to process an application for educational support is not available, this usually means that no final decision can be made on the application and, as a result, no support payment or continuation of the educational support can be made or, if necessary, benefits can only be paid subject to reservation.

Social law applies to the administration of BAföG benefits:

• Applicants are obliged to cooperate in accordance with §§ 60 to 62, 65 SGB I: Anyone who applies for or receives social benefits or has to reimburse benefits is obliged to provide the necessary data.
• The obligation of the training centre, the parents, the spouse or partner, the employer, the supplementary pension institution to provide the data required for processing is based on §§ 47, 48 BAföG. The obligation to provide information in accordance with § 47 BAföG can also be enforced.

 

8. what data protection rights do you have as a data subject?

You have the right

• to information about your personal data in accordance with Art. 15 GDPR,
• for rectification in accordance with Art. 16 GDPR,
• for erasure in accordance with Art. 17 GDPR,
• to restriction of processing pursuant to Art. 18 GDPR,
• to object to the processing in accordance with Art. 21 GDPR.

Where applicable, the special features and restrictions of social data protection law apply.

In the event that your consent was exceptionally required and granted for certain data processing, you have the right to withdraw this consent at any time. This does not affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out on the basis of the consent up to the time of revocation.

To prevent an unauthorised person from asserting your data protection rights, you will be asked to identify yourself in order to exercise these rights.

You have the right to lodge a complaint with our data protection officer and with a supervisory authority, for example with the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information NRW, P.O. Box 20 04 44, 40102 Düsseldorf, Tel.: 0211/38 424-0, e-mail: poststelle(at)ldi.nrw.de

 

9. how can you obtain further information?

In addition to this information sheet, reference is made to all information that you already have or know about the Studierendenwerk. If you would like further information, please get in touch with the contact persons you know and the data protection officer. They will be happy to help you.

Status: January 2026

Please refer to the following pages:

Information on data protection when applying for an advance payment in accordance with § 36 BAföG

Information on data protection when applying for advance payments in accordance with § 36 BAföG

Here you will find information on the processing of personal data after submitting an application for advance payment in accordance with § 36 BAföG.

This data protection information is supplementary to the data protection information „Information on data protection for training support in accordance with BAföG“; the processing of personal data described there for the administration of training support in accordance with BAföG continues to take place. Overview:

1. Who can you contact, who is responsible for data processing?
2. For what purposes is your data processed?
3. What is the legal basis for processing your data?
4. What data is processed and where does it come from?
5. Who receives your data?
6. How long will your data be stored?
7. Is there an obligation to provide data?
8. What data protection rights do you have as a data subject and how can you exercise further rights? Receive information?

 

1. who can you contact, who is responsible for data processing?

Name and contact details of the controller and contact details of the data protection officer:

See above, the data is identical to the information in the data protection information „Information on data protection for education funding in accordance with BAföG“.

 

2. for what purposes are your data processed?

If you have submitted an application for advance payment or are obliged to cooperate as a parent in the processing of such an application, your personal data will be processed for the following purposes:

• Advice on advance payment
• Processing applications, requesting complete information, making all determinations necessary for the decision on educational support
• Issuance of an authorising or rejecting decision and, if necessary, amendment of the decision
• Decision on disbursements, reclaims if necessary, administration and termination of advance payments
• Determining whether a transferred maintenance claim exists in accordance with § 37 BAföG, applying and observing the civil law regulations on maintenance law
• Insofar as a transferred maintenance claim exists on the basis of § 37 BAföG: Enforcement of this maintenance claim against the parents, also by way of legal action if necessary, by applying and observing the civil law regulations on maintenance law, in particular §§ 1601 - 1615n BGB, this also includes the provision of information to the parent(s) prescribed by § 1605 BGB,

and fulfilment of our associated tasks and duties, in particular proper record keeping, data management in the BAföG specialist programme, evaluation for statistical purposes, as well as for the fulfilment of all activities assigned to us as the Office for Training Assistance in accordance with the Federal Training Assistance Act (BAföG).

 

3. on what legal basis is your data processed?

Your personal data is processed on the legal basis of Art. 6 para. 1 letter e GDPR in conjunction with § 41 BAföG and §§ 67 a and 67 b SGB X to fulfil our tasks as the Office for Educational Support.

 

4. what data is processed and where does it come from?

The data that is already known from the funding file is processed, in this respect reference is made to the text of the data protection information provided above: „Information on data protection for training funding in accordance with BAföG“ under „4. What data is processed and where does it come from?“

In addition, the personal data provided to us during counselling, as part of our application processing and as part of the administration of the advance payment will be processed.

The data categories can be seen from the data fields requested in the application for advance payments in accordance with § 36 BAföG, in particular master data and data on the financial situation of the applicant student, such as income, child benefit, maintenance or maintenance claims, in order to determine whether the education is at risk.

In addition, the data is processed that is required in accordance with the provisions of maintenance law in order to determine whether a transferred maintenance claim exists in accordance with § 37 BAföG. If this is the case, the data required to assert this claim against the person obliged to pay maintenance, which is usually one or both parents, will be processed. This data relates to the circumstances of the student child entitled to maintenance and the circumstances of both parents (including their spouse and all dependants). All data categories for the determination and assertion of maintenance claims or recourse claims are processed, for example

• Relationships, all existing maintenance obligations or rights
• Period, amount and type of maintenance paid,
• Proof of loan encumbrances, loans, etc.
• Information on owner-occupied properties
• Duration and termination of employment relationships
• Proof of income and assets, if applicable also income information on the income of the new spouse of a parent. In the case of maintenance for adults, the parents are asked to provide data on income from assets such as dividends, interest income, etc., but no data on assets.
• Data from health, pension and long-term care insurance, if applicable, data on any disability or extraordinary burdens
• Proof of wage replacement benefits (e.g. sick pay, unemployment benefit) and all other social benefits and pension payments
• Data on the trainee's training and study history, including final certificates
• Health data of the student that are relevant to the progress of the study programme.

Processing data is also processed, such as receipt and dispatch data, file notes and other administrative data.

The data comes from the applicants themselves and from the sources named in the application forms. In addition, personal data is collected - insofar as this is legally permissible and necessary for processing - as part of the official investigation, e.g. when determining an address or when checking and processing information.

 

5 Who receives your data?

Please refer to the text of the data protection information provided above: „Information on data protection in the case of educational support in accordance with BAföG“ under „5. Who receives your data“. The description there also applies here.

The following also applies to advance payments:

The parents are usually heard on the application for advance payment. If the Office for Educational Support asserts a transferred maintenance claim against the parents, maintenance-related procedural legal provisions apply. The parent against whom the claim is made has a right to information under maintenance law in accordance with § 1605 BGB.

• If the legal requirements are met, the parent to whom the claim is made will receive data on the child that is available to the Office for Educational Support, insofar as the Office for Educational Support is obliged to provide information in accordance with Section 1605 BGB. The child's data may also include data of other persons, for example data of the other parent.
• If the legal requirements are met, the Office for Educational Support is obliged to provide the parent to whom the claim is made with the information required under Section 1605 of the German Civil Code (BGB) regarding the income and expenses of a parent who is not the claimant.

 

6 How long will your data be stored?

Data from the advance payment procedure is stored after collection for as long as is necessary for the fulfilment of the respective task, taking into account the statutory retention provisions of the federal and state governments. In particular, they are not deleted before the transferred maintenance claim has been paid in full; court titles obtained are generally valid for 30 years. If the transferred maintenance claim has been paid, all data will be deleted no later than 12 years after the last repayment of the BAföG loan portion.

If no more legal claims are pending or expected to be asserted and if the transferred maintenance claims have been paid in full, the files of the advance payment procedure are generally destroyed or deleted 10 years after the expiry of the last maximum funding period.

 

7. is there an obligation to provide data?

Reference is made to the text of the data protection information provided above: „Information on data protection in the case of training support in accordance with BAföG“ under „7. Is there an obligation to provide data?“ The description there also applies here.

In addition to the obligation to provide information in accordance with § 47 BAföG, parents have a further obligation to provide information in the advance payment procedure:

In order to determine and assert the transferred maintenance claim, the parents are obliged to provide information to the Office for Educational Support in accordance with § 1605 BGB.

 

8. what data protection rights do you have as a data subject and how can you obtain further information?

Reference is made to the text of the data protection information provided above: „Information on data protection in the case of training support in accordance with BAföG“ under „8. What data protection rights do you have as a data subject?“ and under „9. How can you obtain further information?“. The description there also applies here.

Status: January 2026