Easy language

You are here on the website of Studie­ren­den­werk Siegen. On this page you will find infor­ma­tion about us and our work in easy language.

What is a Studierendenwerk?

A Studie­ren­den­werk is a large orga­ni­sa­tion. People work at the Studie­ren­den­werk. These people help students during their studies. Students are people who learn a lot at a univer­sity. The people at the Studie­ren­den­werk support students so that they are well looked after. For example, they help students find affordable accom­mo­da­tion. Or cheap food. Or money. There are Studie­ren­den­werke all over Germany. They can be found wherever there are universities.

The Studie­ren­den­werk Siegen is respon­sible for students at the univer­sity in Siegen. A higher educa­tion insti­tu­tion can be a univer­sity. The abbre­via­tion for this is Uni.

The Studie­ren­den­werk Siegen employs 150 people. Studie­ren­den­werk Siegen looks after around 15 thousand students in Siegen. These students study at the Univer­sity of Siegen.

There is a law that regu­lates the tasks of the Studie­ren­den­werk. This is the Student Services Act. The Studie­ren­den­werk Siegen is a non-profit orga­ni­sa­tion. Non-profit means that people help other people. The Studie­ren­den­werk receives money for this from the state of North Rhine-West­­phalia. The Studie­ren­den­werk Siegen also finances its work from the sale of food and drink, rental income, contri­bu­tions from parents for child­care and contri­bu­tions from students.

What is a university?

After school, you can learn even more at a univer­sity. This is called studying. A univer­sity college is like a school for adults. The teachers of the students are called profes­sors. Or they are lecturers.

To study, you usually need the Abitur. The Abitur is a school-leaving quali­fi­ca­tion. The Abitur is the highest school-leaving quali­fi­ca­tion in Germany. You can choose which subject (specia­lism) you would like to study. You can obtain a degree by studying. The degrees are called Bachelor or Master. With a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, you can work in certain professions.

Studie­ren­den­werk Siegen helps students with many tasks:

1/ Students need money to live.

Many students have little money. The Studie­ren­den­werk tells students how to get money from the state. The money from the state is called BAföG. BAföG is the abbre­via­tion for Bundes-Ausbil­­dungs-Förde­rungs-Gesetz (Federal Trai­ning Assis­tance Act). This is finan­cial aid from the Office for Educa­tional Support. If parents are unable to pay for their child’s studies, these students can apply for BAföG money. BAföG money consists of 2 parts. Students receive one part as a gift.
The other part is loaned to the students. This means that the students have to pay back half of the money after their studies. BAföG is paid out monthly for a certain number of months. Once this period has expired, you have to submit a new BAföG application.

We check the BAföG appli­ca­tions of students studying at the Univer­sity of Siegen.

Many people find the BAföG appli­ca­tion diffi­cult to under­stand. Help is available from the Studie­ren­den­werk. For example, on the BAföG website: STW Siegen (studierendenwerk-siegen.de). The staff in the student finance depart­ment are also happy to help. They also advise students on how they can finance their studies in other ways and receive money.

2/ Students also need to eat and drink something.

The Studie­ren­den­werk has 3 canteens, 1 bistro and a food court. These are places where students can buy food and drinks and socia­lise with other students. The food is cheap and there are many diffe­rent options. People who work at the univer­sity and other guests can also eat in the canteen. They then have to pay a little more. Students must show their student ID card at the checkout. They receive this card at the univer­sity. With this card, they receive a favourable student price in the canteen.

There are diffe­rent types of food. For example

- for people who like meat and
– for people who do not eat meat.

Some people can’t or don’t want to eat ever­y­thing. That’s why the dishes are labelled with signs and small drawings. They indi­cate which ingre­di­ents are in the food. So you can decide whether you want to eat the dish or not.

You can pay with your bank card in the canteen. Or with your smartphone.

3/ Students need a place to live.

The Studie­ren­den­werk Hamburg rents rooms or flats to students in halls of resi­dence. Halls of resi­dence are houses with many rooms and flats. The rooms and flats have a favourable rent. Students from all over the world live in the halls of resi­dence. The Studie­ren­den­werk Siegen has almost 1,000 places in 9 halls of resi­dence in Siegen.

If you would like a place in a hall of resi­dence, you must complete an appli­ca­tion for admis­sion. You can complete the appli­ca­tion online. There are almost always more appli­ca­tions than places. That’s why you often have to wait for a room.

The rents are warm rents. This means that there are no extra costs. The costs for internet, water, elec­tri­city, heating and rubbish are included in the rent. In the rooms there is a bed, a ward­robe and a desk. In some resi­den­tial complexes there are rooms that all resi­dents are allowed to use. In these rooms you can study, play or meet up together.

There are rules in the resi­den­tial complexes. These rules are called house rules. Ever­yone must abide by these house rules. The rules are desi­gned to help ever­yone live well toge­ther. For example, it is not allowed to be loud at night.

There are house masters in the resi­den­tial complexes. The caret­aker takes care of anything that breaks. You can write an e‑mail or call the caretaker.

4/Some students have children.

The Studie­ren­den­werk Siegen has a child­care centre. The child­care centre is called Flexi. Flexi looks after the children of students. At Flexi, children can play, eat and sleep during the day. This allows students to concen­trate better on their studies.