The Family Office (‘JUniFamilie’) is a project run by Friedrich Schiller University Jena in collaboration with the Student Services Organization of Thuringia. The Family Office can support you in all matters that might arise as you try to balance your studies or career with your family commitments.
Helpful information for students with children
The legal regulations stipulated in the German Maternity Protection Act (Mutterschutzgesetz, MuSchG) also apply to female students during the protection periods before and after childbirth.
The pregnancy must be reported to the Student Service Centre, where you can also get all the necessary forms and information on student maternity leave.
Parental Allowance is a benefit for parents with babies or toddlers.
As a mother or a father, you can receive Parental Allowance if the following conditions are met:
Parental Allowance is available to employees and civil servants, as well as self-employed, unemployed and stay-at-home parents. This means you can also claim Parental Allowance if you were not working before the child was born. This also applies to students. You do not need to stop studying or training to receive Parental Allowance. It does not matter how many hours a week you spend in this capacity. Unlike the restriction on working hours, you can also study or train for more than 30 hours a week.
Parental Allowance for parents with a different nationality
Parents with a different nationality can also receive Parental Allowance. It depends on whether you are a permanent resident in Germany and whether you are allowed to work here. You can receive Parental Allowance if you have a settlement permit – if you have a temporary settlement permit on purpose of studing in germany you’re not allowed to get Parental Allowance.
You can submit an application to your local Parental Allowance office. You should submit your application in good time to ensure that your Parental Allowance is paid out to you in time. Parental Allowance is paid retrospectively for up to 3 months of your child’s life.
Find HERE [pdf, 7 mb] de more informations about Parental Allowance or ask your local parental benefits office.
You can claim child benefits (Kindergeld) following the birth of your child; you must submit a written application to the family office (Familienkasse) of the employment agency. You will generally be granted child benefits if:
You can get more information from the family office of the employment agency.
More information on aspects like the organization of studies and semesters on leave can be found on the webpages of the Student Service Centre.
If you have any questions about student finance, please contact the General Social Counselling Service at the Student Services Organization in Thuringia.
Please inform your departmental supervisor and Division for Human Resources if you are pregnant. This will allow you to quickly clear up any questions you might have about maternity leave and parental leave.
Following maternity leave (usually 6 weeks before and 8 weeks after childbirth), both parents can request parental leave. You must submit a written request to your employer at least 7 weeks before taking parental leave.
If you have any questions, please contact the Division for Human Resources in good time.
Parental benefits (Elterngeld) are a form of partial financial compensation for parents who
You can submit an application to your local parental benefits office following the birth of your child (retrospectively for a maximum of 3 months).
You can get more information from your local parental benefits office.
You can claim child benefits (Kindergeld) following the birth of your child; you must submit a written application to the family office (Familienkasse) of the employment agency. You will generally be granted child benefits if:
You can get more information from the family office of the employment agency.
As a doctoral candidate, you do not have to enrole to undertake a doctorate at the University of Jena. You can enrol as a doctoral candidate by paying the semester contribution. However, you cannot be employed for more than 20 hours a week.
Doctoral candidates can refer to the information for students.
If you are a doctoral candidate and spend over half of your regular working hours as a researcher, the information for employees will also apply to you.
If you have any questions, please contact the Graduate Academy.
Your child can be looked after by a childminder or nursery staff for full or half days. If your child is at least one year old, you have a legal right to childcare.
You can register via the online nursery portal of the City of Jena.
We also offer flexible, hourly childcare right on campus (‘JUniKinder’), where your children can be looked after for a maximum of 10 hours a week from the age of 13 weeks.
If you have any questions, please contact the Family Office at the University of Jena (‘JUniFamilie’).
As part of our initiatives to help you balance your work and family, there are various options to fully or partially reduce your working hours if necessary.
You can find more information about caring for relatives on the webpages of the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG).
If you have any questions about the different ways of taking time off, please contact the person responsible for you in the Division for Human Resources.
