These days not every student has a financial cushion and has to figure out how to pay rent during their university years. BAföG (the German government student aid) was created to help with this, but unfortunately not everyone has the right to receive it, so there have to be other options for getting by as a student. That brings us to today's topic. What does it mean to be a working student (Werkstudent)? Alongside your studies you have the chance to hold a job, and in fact 2/3 of all students do just that, about 10 hours a week. But you have to meet some requirements for it, not everyone can simply become a working student.

Working student in the semester break: what are the requirements?

  • You are enrolled at a university during the job
  • The student does not yet have a university degree
  • The student is not on a leave semester
  • You are not beyond the 25th subject-specific semester

Working student in the semester break alongside your studies, hours and pay

As a rule, a student acting as a working student may only work a maximum of 20 hours a week. But there is actually a special rule: in the semester break a working student may work full time. How much they earn then naturally always depends on the employer itself. As a rule you can assume that a working student earns between 12 and 15 euros an hour. That would be about 1,080 euros a month. In addition to good earnings, a working student has further privileges that a normal employee doesn't have.

Working student in the semester break and the privileges
Not only are the working hours different from those of a normal employee, but so is the type of insurance. If you're still insured through your parents and earn no more than 450 euros a month, you're exempt from contributions. If the amount of 450 euros a month is exceeded, a working student is obliged to pay contributions toward income tax as well as pension insurance. Since at first glance that is a lot of information at once, we've put together a small list as an overview:

  • At earnings of 450 euros a month, no contributions are required
  • From earnings of 451- 850 euros a month, the working student has to hand over between 5 and 21 percent of gross pay depending on earnings
  • At earnings from 850 euros a month, 9.35 percent of gross pay is deducted.