Schwerin (dpa / mv) - Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania adjusts its financial aid for trainees to the cost and tariff development in the state. As the Ministry of Education announced in Schwerin on Sunday, the state will grant grants for travel and accommodation costs from this apprenticeship year, even if the training allowance is higher. The upper limit has been raised from 600 to 750 euros per month. Thus, almost 40 percent of the trainees could benefit from the aid, said Minister of Education Simone Oldenburg (left).
If the distance between home and vocational school is no more than 300 kilometers, the travel allowance through the state amounts to 280 euros per year. Trainees who have to travel a long way could receive 560 euros. According to Oldenburg, accommodation in a boarding school is subsidized at a flat rate of 350 euros per year. "In this way we relieve the young people - especially in this financially difficult time for many - and hopefully avoid dropping out of training," explained Oldenburg.
However, young people who use the trainee ticket co-financed by the state to travel to the vocational school in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are excluded from the travel allowance. The digital local transport ticket, which is valid nationwide, costs 365 euros per year. So far, however, usage has fallen short of expectations. As the ministry also announced, the state's travel and rent subsidies are also no longer applicable to young people who have interrupted their education more than twice or who are receiving social benefits.
