Table of Contents
General
The social counseling takes place in the AStA villa. During the counseling hours, you DO NOT NEED an appointment, just join us. Before coming to the counseling, please note the information in "short-term changes" on www.astafu.de
Current counseling hours
ATTENTION: The General social counseling does not take places from 3.8.-14.8. and from 7.9.-9.10.2026. Below you find alternative places for social counseling:
For students:
- Social and Bafög counseling of AStA TU Berlin: https://asta.tu-berlin.de/en/social-and-bafoeg-advising/
- Counseling services of RefRat (AStA) of Humboldt University Berlin: https://www.refrat.de/beratung.html
For general social counseling (unemployment benefits = ALG 2/housing benefits = Wohngeld/...):
- counseling services of Caritas: https://www.caritas-berlin.de/beratungundhilfe/berlin/allgemeinesozialeberatung/allgemeine-soziale-beratung
- counseling services at Bona Peiser (city center Wassertor) (mostly german, some in turkish): https://bona-peiser.de/
- Map of social advice centers in Berlin: https://www.hilfe-in-berlin.de/en/good-to-know/social-advice/social-advice-centres
Map of different counseling services for immigrants: https://beratungsnetz-migration.de/list/l/en/
For Grundsicherung (formerly Bürgergeld = ALG 2)
- BASTA Erwerbsloseninitiative: https://bastaberlin.de/beratung
For health insurance:
- Counseling services for students by different health insurance providers: https://www.hu-berlin.de/universitaet/international/an-die-hu/welcome-centre/krankenversicherung
- Most centers for social counseling offer advice on health insurance questions
Loans for students:
- Studentische Darlehenskasse Berlin: https://www.dakaberlin.de/indexen.php
For semester ticket (especially for the semester ticket grant recommended!):
- General infos for grant for semester ticket: https://astafu.de/en/semesterticket/grant
- Counseling hours of semester ticket office: https://astafu.de/en/contact/semtix#office-hours
Every Wednesday 11:00 - 13:00 and 14:00 - 16:00
Please check short term changes on our website.
Topics of the counseling:
- Students and health insurance
- Study and job
- "Social law characteristics" of students, interns, doctoral candidates and the like
- Grundsicherung (formerly Bürgergeld/Hartz 4)
- Child benefit
- Broadcasting contributions / Ex-GEZ
- Housing allowance
- Counseling assistance certificate
- General: Student financing
- Leave of absence and part-time studies
- Not a complete consultation but perhaps a few useful tips, tricks and addresses on the topics: tax, alimony, studying with a child.
The counseling is supported with a lawyer for social law. At the moment, direct consultation with a lawyer is not possible. Please therefor have a look at our different legal counseling options here.