School over - what now?
The exams have been written, the diplomas awarded and now the serious side of life that parents and teachers have so often talked about begins. Start an apprenticeship straight away or go to university? Or go abroad first?
Whereas young people used to simply follow in their parents' footsteps, today they are spoiled for choice.
pme parenting consultant Christian Keller advises:
"There are many different ways to get your bearings. Seek advice at the careers information centers of the employment agencies or take advantage of the trial lectures at universities. Voluntary services such as the Voluntary Social Year or the Voluntary Ecological Year are becoming increasingly popular with young people and are often very helpful for career orientation."
Who pays for the training?
Parents face multiple challenges during their children's career orientation phase: They want to provide their child with good support, while at the same time their lives are also changing as their children leave home. And then there are the financial questions: How much does training or studying cost? Can we afford it?
pme expert Christian Keller knows what to do:
"A career aspiration should not fail because of money. In addition to child benefit and parental support, there are a variety of funding options, such as scholarships, student loans or BAföG. Advice is available directly from the social counseling services at technical colleges and universities, and our parent counselors are also happy to support parents and young people."
Child maintenance: the legal situation
In principle, children who have reached the age of majority are entitled to maintenance from their parents. This also includes the financing of vocational training.
Questions of maintenance for adult children are regulated in BGB §§ 1601 ff. According to the law, parents must pay maintenance until the child is economically independent, i.e. until they have completed their studies or training. Parents must also pay if they reject the child's career or study aspirations. The benchmark is the average period of study plus two semesters for the exam.
A brochure published by the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection states:
"Maintenance shall cover all living expenses, including the costs of appropriate preliminary training for a profession. This also includes the parents' obligation to finance, to the best of their ability, schooling or vocational training for their children that corresponds to their inclinations, talents and achievements and is suitable for giving the child economic independence.
As long as the child is completing such training, he or she is not generally obliged to pursue gainful employment alongside it. However, they must complete their education with determination and without avoidable delays."
However, there are limits to the obligation to pay maintenance: for example, a father who did not want to finance his daughter's studies in a special case was recently upheld by the Federal Court of Justice. The daughter only began her studies six years after completing her A-levels and vocational training. In addition, father and daughter had not seen each other for almost a year and the daughter had not informed her father of her plans.
Christian Keller is Product Manager for Parental Counseling at the pme Familienservice
