Student assistant job in Germany (HiWi): pay & rules

Last updated: 30 October 2026

A position as a student assistant (studentische Hilfskraft, often called HiWi) is a part-time job at your own university. You work for a department, an institute, the library or the computer centre, usually for a few hours a week and often in your own field of study. For many, it’s an alternative to working the till at a supermarket or doing shifts in a restaurant.

You’ll almost always need the money. BAföG is often not enough, especially if you’re running your own household or have a child. A scholarship would be the easier solution, but it usually requires good grades or some kind of voluntary involvement, and relying on your parents for money becomes more uncomfortable with every semester. For most part-time jobs, the point is therefore simply to earn money, and they have nothing to do with your studies. A HiWi job is different. Separate rules apply for pay, working hours and contract duration, and these vary from state to state.

What does a student assistant actually do?

HiWis support teaching and research. The TU Hamburg guidelines list what this entails: preparing courses and research organisationally and technically; collecting and documenting research findings; maintaining and issuing equipment; compiling reading lists; assisting with laboratory or library operations; and producing statistics, tables and charts. Assisting with administrative or library tasks may be included, but should not be the main focus.

Some HiWis lead tutorials and go over the lecture material again with first-year students. Others do office work. I’ve often seen HiWis (short for ‘Hilfswissenschaftler’) in the university’s computer centre: there, for example, they help you set up the Wi-Fi on your laptop or your email account. Many students also work in the libraries.

Student assistant vs research assistant (WHK)

You can only work as a student assistant whilst you are enrolled and have not yet obtained your first professional qualification. What happens after a Bachelor’s degree is regulated by each federal state and often by each university itself. The Münster Academy of Fine Arts employs student assistants with a Bachelor’s degree as ‘research assistants with a Bachelor’s degree’. The Technical University of Munich continues to employ them as student assistants, but only ‘with a completed university degree’ and at a higher hourly rate. At the Technical University of Hamburg, Bachelor’s graduates may only remain as student assistants if they continue their studies in a Master’s programme without interruption.

Some universities also require a minimum duration of study; at the Münster Academy of Fine Arts, this is usually four semesters.

Pay and working hours

How much you receive depends on the federal state, the university and your degree. The lower limit is the statutory minimum wage of €13.90; from January 2027, this will be €14.60. Student assistants without a degree earn more than this: at universities in the federal states that belong to the Tarifgemeinschaft deutscher Länder (TdL, the states’ collective bargaining association), the minimum rate has been at least €15.20 since the summer semester of 2026, and will be at least €15.90 from the summer semester of 2027. This is not a collective agreement but a commitment the federal states have made to the trade unions. Berlin has its own agreement, TV Stud III: €15.08 since January 2026, €15.90 from 2027 and €16.06 from 2028. Hesse, under its own collective agreement, has also been paying €15.20 since October 2026 and will pay €15.90 from October 2027.

A Bachelor’s degree doesn’t mean a higher rate everywhere. The Technical University of Munich pays student assistants with a degree €16.70 from the 2026/27 winter semester and €17.44 from the 2027 summer semester. The Münster Academy of Fine Arts, on the other hand, pays the same rate to those with a Bachelor’s degree as to those without. We have broken down how this compares to a working student (Werkstudent) job in a company in a separate article.

The number of hours per week is specified in the contract, with the university setting the upper limit. It is often 19 hours: the Münster Academy of Fine Arts allows a maximum of 19 hours per week, whilst the Technical University of Hamburg allows 19 hours per week or 86 per month, and there, all other paid jobs count towards that limit. At €15.20 an hour, you stay below the Minijob limit of €603 as long as you work under 40 hours a month, which is a good nine hours a week.

Contracts, illness and holidays

HiWi contracts are fixed-term. The federal states have agreed to conclude them, as a rule, for one year, with shorter or longer terms permitted only in justified cases. Hesse follows the same rule. Overall, the Academic Fixed-Term Contracts Act permits fixed-term assistant roles during one’s studies for up to six years. This period is not counted towards the time limits that later apply to doctoral studies and postdoctoral positions (Section 2(3) WissZeitVG). Some universities impose stricter limits; at the Technical University of Hamburg, the limit is eight semesters.

As a student assistant, you are an employee with all the associated rights. If you fall ill, the university will continue to pay your salary for up to six weeks once the employment relationship has lasted for four weeks (Section 3 of the EntgFG). You are also entitled to annual leave: by law, at least 24 working days per year based on a six-day working week (Section 3 of the Annual Leave Act (BUrlG)); if you work fewer days, the entitlement is reduced proportionally.

Social security, taxes and BAföG

If you earn no more than €603 per month on average, your job as a student assistant (HiWi) counts as a Minijob. The threshold is linked to the minimum wage (Section 8(1a) of Book IV of the Social Code) and rises in line with it. You then don’t pay health, long-term care or unemployment insurance. You are subject to pension insurance contributions, but you can apply for an exemption (§ 6(1b) SGB VI). Several Minijobs are added together.

If you exceed this limit, the working student privilege (Werkstudentenprivileg) applies: if you work a maximum of 20 hours per week, you remain exempt from health, long-term care and unemployment insurance, regardless of how much you earn. Jobs held only during the semester break are exempt, whatever the hours. Pension contributions are payable; a sample calculation can be found in the article on working students. You are covered by your family’s health insurance as long as your income does not exceed €565 per month, or €603 if you have a Minijob (Section 10 of Book V of the Social Code), after which you are covered by student health insurance.

Income tax is only payable if your taxable income for the year exceeds the basic allowance of €12,348. If income tax has nevertheless been deducted, you can claim it back by submitting a tax return.

Under the BAföG scheme, the allowance for your own income has been linked to the Minijob limit since 2024 (Section 23(6) BAföG). A student assistant job earning up to €603 a month therefore does not reduce your grant; any amount above this is partially taken into account. You can find out how the authorities calculate this in the article on income and BAföG.

If you already hold a first degree, your parents will continue to receive child benefit as long as you work no more than 20 hours a week on a regular basis or only have a Minijob (Section 32(4) of the Income Tax Act (EStG)). You can find out more in the article on child benefit whilst studying.

HiWi or working student: the differences

‘Working student’ (Werkstudent) isn’t a type of contract but a status in the social security system. A HiWi job paying over €603 a month therefore also falls under the working student privilege. In everyday language, though, a Werkstudent job means a position in a company, and it differs from a HiWi job mainly in pay, contract and duties.

Without an objective reason, a company can limit a working student contract to two years at most (Section 14(2) of the TzBfG). Those looking to gain work experience for their CV or wishing to earn more are often better off working for a company. Those who want to stay at university, pursue a PhD or write their final thesis at a department are more likely to benefit from a teaching assistant role. Salary ranges and pension contributions are set out in the article on working students.

How do I find a job as a student assistant?

Check the noticeboards and your department’s website, as vacancies are usually advertised there. Further down in this post, you’ll also find a portal where you can look for student assistant jobs. If in doubt, simply ask lecturers or other staff at your university. For the contract, you’ll need a current certificate of enrolment – at the Technical University of Hamburg, this must be renewed at the start of each semester.

Application and documents

The application is usually shorter than one for a job with a company. A brief cover letter explaining why you are particularly interested in this department, a CV and your current academic transcript are generally sufficient. If you have already attended the lecture for which a tutor is being sought, or have achieved a good mark in the subject, this should be mentioned in the first paragraph. Many positions are not advertised at all, so it’s worth sending a speculative application by email to the professor, ideally after a consultation hour where you’ve already met them.

Once you’ve been offered the job, the HR department will want to see some documents. At the University of Marburg, these include a short personal details form, the self-declaration for income tax with your tax ID, a social security questionnaire, a certificate of enrolment stating your semester of study and, if available, your Bachelor’s degree certificate. If you hold a foreign passport, you’ll also need a residence permit that allows you to work. You’ll need to resubmit your certificate of enrolment every semester for the duration of your contract.

Reasons for taking a job as a student assistant

Any other part-time job helps to fund your studies just as well. As a HiWi, however, you’ll see what academic work is like in day-to-day life and can assess whether a PhD is an option for you. You’ll get to know the staff at the department where you might later write your final thesis, and gain first-hand insight into current topics in your field. You can talk about this later in a job interview.

On top of that, it’s a short commute: you have to go to uni anyway, as your workplace and lecture theatre are on the same campus. The downside is that hourly rates rarely go above the minimum rates, and contracts usually need to be renewed after a year.

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