Here you can find the Semester Ticket Hardship Regulations. It is the document that defines when we can and cannot grant refunds or subsidies. Because of its importance, we provide it not only as a PDF, but also as such for you to read.
For some of the paragraphs we have added some explanatory words - you can find them in the gray blocks in front of the paragraphs.
Click here for the Hardship Regulations as a PDF document (in German)
Regulations of the Student Body of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz for the refund of the contribution shares of the transport companies of the AStA semester ticket in cases of hardship (Semester Ticket Hardship Regulations)
The 67th Student Parliament has in its 10th Ordinary Session on 08.02.2017 on the basis of § 110 Abs. 2 Satz 2 of the Hochschulgesetz in the version of 19.11.2010 (GVBl. S. 463), last amended Artikel 1 of the Act of 02.03.2017 (GVBl. S. 17) BS 223-41 and Art. 4 Abs. 2 of the Statutes of the Student Body of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz dated 23.12.2015, the Student Body has amended the following statutes of the Regulations of the Student Body of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz for the refund of the contribution shares of the transport companies of the AStA semester ticket in cases of hardship (Semester Ticket Hardship Regulations).
The amendment statutes to these regulations were approved by the President of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Georg Krausch, on April 27, 2017 and announced on May 09, 2017, so that the President of the 67th Student Parliament, Halil Siabanoglou issued the following reading version on May 09, 2017.
Part 1: Claim for refund
§ 1 – Refund of the contribution shares of the transport companies for the AStA semester ticket
| (1) | Students who are members of the student body are obliged to pay the contribution for the semester ticket. The contribution consists of the shares of the transport companies and a share for the reserves according to the financial regulations of the student body. In return, they receive the right to travel according to the contracts between the student body and the transport companies or transport associations. |
| (2) | Upon request, the student body will refund to a member, in whole or in part, the portion of the semester fee that is to be paid to the transportation companies or transportation associations, provided that the member can prove a reason for hardship according to § 2 paragraph 1, 3, 4 or § 2a. |
| (3) | There is no legal claim to refund. |
| (4) | The student body may support a member in financing the semester ticket on a pro-rata basis upon request, provided that the member can prove a reason for hardship according to § 2a. A subsidy is excluded if the semester ticket amount or the semester amount as a whole has been provided by a grant in kind from the Department of Social Affairs or a comparable body. |
| (5) | There is no legal claim to a subsidy for funding, especially if the available budgetary resources have been exhausted. |
§ 2 – Hardship reasons
Explanation to § 2
This paragraph regulates the refund of the semester ticket. We explain it to you in detail here: Information on the refund of the semester ticket
In para. 1 the first 8 of 12 reasons for hardship are mentioned, which justify a refund of the semester ticket. Important for points 6 to 8 is that you have to prove that your "place of residence or actual stay" is not in the semester ticket area (see para. 2).
Para. 3 regulates the refund for people who are entitled to transportation according to the Ninth Book of the Social Code (Sozialgesetzbuch).
Para. 4 regulates the refundin the case of illness or disability that makes the use of transportation in the AStA semester ticket area not possible for medical reasons. A medical certificate is then required.
| (1) | Hardship reasons leading to refund of the full contribution (regular application):
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| (2) | The place of residence or the actual stay outside the AStA semester ticket area must be proven in cases no. 6 to 8. |
| (3) | The full amount is also refunded for severely disabled students who are entitled to transportation according to the Ninth Book of the Social Security Code (Neuntes Buch Sozialgesetzbuch) and can prove that they have the supplement to their severely disabled ID and the corresponding token; this processing is handled by the Department for Disabled and Chronically Ill Students. |
| (4) | The full amount will also be refunded to students who were unable to use the means of transport in the AStA semesterticket area for at least three months of the respective semester due to illness or disability. The applicant must provide proof of the illness or disability in the form of a medical certificate. |
§ 2a – Other hardship reasons
Explanation to § 2a
Para. 1 to 5 regulate the subsidy for the semester ticket. The calculation, which follows from these 5 paragraphs, we explain to you here: Informationen on the subsidy for the semester ticket
Para. 6 regulates further cases for refund.
| (1) | As a reason for hardship leading to a subsidy for the financing of the AStA semester ticket from the MVG-AStA hardship fund, it may be recognized within the scope of the available budgetary resources if the applicant can prove that his/her average monthly income in the last three months prior to application, after deducting
falls below the assessment threshold. |
| (2) | The assessment limit corresponds to the amount of the average monthly expenses for food, clothing, learning materials, telephone, Internet, radio and television fees, postage, leisure time, culture and sports as these are indicated in the most recently published social survey of the German Student Union. |
| (3) | Each child (who is subject to the maintenance obligation) of the applicant increases the assessment limit by 50%. |
| (4) | Income within the meaning of these Regulations means the income of the applicant(s) under section 2(1) and (2) of the Income Tax Act (Einkommenssteuergesetz), as well as
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| (5) | In the case of marriage, registered partnership (eingetragene Lebenspartnerschaft) or joint children, the income of the partner is included separately in the calculation of the assessment limit. |
| (6) | The full semester ticket amount is also refunded for students who
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§ 3 – Other mobility components
Explanation to § 3
"Further mobility components" (besides the use of public transport in the semester ticket area) means, for example, the discounted use of the MeinRad system in Mainz. With a refund, you also lose the right to this.
In the case of a refund of the entire fee according to the reasons for hardship pursuant to § 2 paragraph 1, 3, 4 and § 2a paragraph 5 for the AStA semester ticket, the entitlement to use all associated mobility components is cancelled.
Part 2: Procedure for deciding the application
§ 4 – Hardship Fund Office
| (1) | The hardship fund office is the Department of Transport. |
| (2) | The Department of Transport can transfer individual tasks to other departments of the AStA, employees or temporary staff of the AStA by contract, taking into account the requirements of data protection law. |
§ 5 – Application
Explanation to § 5
This paragraph regulates which application and submission deadlines apply to the application and how the application must be submitted. It also regulates when a decision can be made on an application, that you have a duty to cooperate and when an application must be rejected for lack of documents or information.
The application is first created online via www.asta-jgu-rueckerstattung.de. Afterwards, however, the application must be printed out and signed in original. A digital signature is not sufficient!
Deadlines for the application are regulated in para. 1, 1a, 1b and 3. It is important to note that the date on which the application is received by the AStA is the relevant date.
Deadlines for subsequent submission of documents are regulated in para. 2 and para. 5, sentence 4, respectively.
Para. 5 determines how applications are to be handled. The obligation to cooperate (see sentence 2) means that you are obligated to cooperate with the submission of the application and to send us, for example, missing evidence upon request. If you do not do this (e.g. you do not reply), do not fully respond to our questions about missing documents or do not meet the deadline set, we must automatically reject the application (see penultimate sentence).
Paragraph 5 also makes it clear how important it is for you to have a correct e-mail address. All communication goes through it (see sentence 3). If something is missing and your e-mail address is incorrect, we must reject the application (see last sentence).
| (1) | The application for refund according to § 2 paragraph 1 must be submitted electronically on the website offered by the AStA for this purpose. A file will be created, which must be printed out and signed and received by the AStA no later than May 7 for the summer semester or November 7 for the winter semester for which the refund application is being submitted. This is a cut-off deadline (Ausschlussfrist). If the day on which the deadline expires falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the following working day is deemed to be the end of the deadline. |
| (1a) | For the hardship reasons according to § 2 paragraph 3, the deadlines for filing an application specified in § 5 paragraph 1 shall apply. |
| (1b) | In the case of the hardship reason illness, the subsidy for financing (§ 2 paragraph 4, § 2a paragraph 1) applications can be submitted at any time during the current semester. There is a form for this online, which can be accessed all year round. Grant applications can be submitted once per semester. However, there must be at least three months between two consecutive applications. |
| (2) | The evidence necessary for the examination of applications according to paragraphs 1 and 1a must be submitted in writing to the Hardship Fund Office no later than May 15 for the summer semester or November 15 for the winter semester, in cases of refund according to § 2 paragraph 3 to the Department for the Concerns of Disabled and Chronically Ill Students. If the day of the deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the following working day is considered the end of the deadline. |
| (3) | Students who enroll after the official deadline of the university as well as students according to § 2a paragraph 6 can apply for a refund of the semester ticket amount within 30 days after enrollment. The deadlines according to § 5 paragraph 2 sentence 1 are postponed accordingly. If the day of the deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the following working day is considered the end of the deadline. |
| (4) | The Hardship Fund Office and, in the cases of reimbursement according to § 2 paragraph 3, the Department for the Interests of Disabled and Chronically Ill Students shall inform the applicants on the application form that their data will be processed in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations and that the transport authorities have a right to inspect the application documents under conditions specified in these Regulations. |
| (5) | A decision on the application can only be made if the application form is completed in full and all the required supporting documents are enclosed; the application form lists which supporting documents are generally required. The applicant has a duty to cooperate. If necessary documents are missing or if further documents or evidence are required in order to decide on the application, the Hardship Fund Office and, in the cases of reimbursement according to § 2 paragraph 3, the Department for the Concerns of Disabled and Chronically Ill Students, will request the applicant by e-mail to the e-mail address stated in the application to submit the necessary documents by the deadline according to paragraph 2. In the case of the hardship reason illness as well as the grant for financing, a deadline of 30 days is set. If the email address is incorrect or if the deadline set expires without feedback or with insufficient feedback, the application must be rejected. If no email address is provided and the documents attached to the application are insufficient, the application shall be rejected. |
§ 6 – Decision on refund requests according to § 2 paragraph 1 and 4
Explanation of § 6
Para. 1 and 1a specify when a decision is made on an application. Together with § 5 para. 5 sentence 1, this means applications that are complete and include all required evidence.
Para. 2 defines how you are officially informed about a negative decision (= rejection). "Notified in writing" means that you receive the rejection notice by physical mail.
Para. 3 defines how you are officially informed about a positive decision (= approval) and what happens afterwards.
| (1) | The Hardship Fund Office shall make a decision in the cases specified in § 2 paragraph 1 after the deadline has expired. If all the evidence necessary for issuing a positive decision is already available before the deadline expires, the Hardship Fund Office may also issue a positive decision before the deadline expires. |
| (1a) | The Hardship Fund Office shall decide on the application without delay after the expiry of the deadline in the cases specified in § 2 paragraph 4. |
| (1b) | If the decision is made by an employee, a staff member or a temporary employee of the AStA, the vote is to be reviewed by the Department of Transport (four-eyes principle) and corrected if an error is found. |
| (2) | In the event of a negative decision, the Hardship Fund Office shall issue a notice of rejection; the notice of rejection shall state the reasons and include instructions on how to appeal. The decision shall be notified in writing. |
| (3) | If the decision is positive, the Hardship Fund Office will issue a positive decision electronically. If a stamped return envelope was included with the request, the notice and the cancelled student ID card will be returned to the address indicated on the return envelope in the request. Once approved, the refund amount will be instructed. |
§ 6a – Decision on requests for refunds pursuant to § 2 (3)
Explanation of § 6a
§ 6a functions analogously to § 6 and applies to applications for refund for people with severe disabilities and the right to transportation under the Ninth Book of the Social Code (Sozialgesetzbuch).
| (1) | The Department for the Interests of Disabled and Chronically Ill Students decides on the applications in the cases of § 2 paragraph 3 immediately after the complete application documents are available. |
| (2) | In the event of a negative decision, the Department for the Interests of Disabled and Chronically Ill Students will issue a rejection notice. Reasons must be given for the rejection decision and the decision must be accompanied by instructions on how to appeal. The decision will be announced in writing. |
| (3) | If the refund criteria according to § 2 paragraph 3 are met, the department for the interests of disabled and chronically ill students will issue a positive decision in writing. The validated student ID card is sent together with the decision. After approval, the refund amount will be instructed. |
§ 7 – Decision on subsidy for financing the semester ticket according to § 2a
Explanation of § 7
Para. 1 specifies when a decision is made on an application. Together with § 5 para. 5 sentence 1, this means applications that are complete and include all required evidence.
Para. 2 states that you cannot receive more than the semester ticket's share of the total semester fee for the respective semester as a subsidy.
Para. 3 defines how you will be officially informed about a negative decision (= rejection). "Notified in writing" means that you will receive the rejection notice by physical mail.
Para. 4 defines how you are officially informed about a positive decision (= approval) and what happens afterwards.
| (1) | The Hardship Fund Office will decide on the respective application as soon as the complete application documents are available. |
| (2) | The subsidy for financing the semester ticket amounts to a maximum of 100%. |
| (3) | In the event of a negative decision, the Hardship Fund Office shall issue a notice of rejection; the notice of rejection shall state the reasons and include instructions on how to appeal. |
| (4) | If the decision is positive, the Hardship Fund Office issues a positive decision. After approval, the refund amount is instructed. |
§ 8 – Appeal procedure
Explanation to § 8
In the event of rejection, you have the right to file an objection - this is governed by section 1. This must be received by us in writing no later than 1 month after you have received the rejection notice. "In writing" means that an e-mail is not sufficient as an objection. The appeal must be received by us in writing as a letter or by fax. This paragraph also regulates that the so-called hardship committee decides on an objection.
Para. 2, 3 and 4 provide more detailed information on the Hardship Committee, its meetings and its composition.
| (1) | The applicant may file a written appeal against a decision rejecting an application with the AStA within one month of receipt; the appeal should contain a statement of reasons. The final decision on the appeal will be made by the Hardship Committee of the AStA. |
| (2) | The Hardship Fund Office or, in cases of refund according to § 2 paragraph 3, the Department for the Affairs of Disabled and Chronically Ill Students shall prepare the appeal notice for a meeting of the Hardship Fund Committee with a recommendation for decision. The applicant shall be invited to the meeting. |
| (3) | The decision on the appeal will be made at the next meeting of the Hardship Committee. The Hardship Committee meets at least twice per semester, provided there are appeals. For the summer semester, committee meetings are convened in June and September, and for the winter semester, in December and March. Additional committee meetings are possible. In justified exceptional cases, the decision may take place later if the applicant wishes to attend the meeting at which the matter is discussed. |
| (4) | The composition of the hardship committee is regulated by the AStA's rules of procedure. If the rules of procedure of the AStA do not provide for any regulation, a speaker of the department of transport, a speaker of the department of social affairs as well as the speaker of the department of finance are the voting members of the hardship committee. The committee shall include, in an advisory capacity, the persons to whom tasks have been delegated in accordance with § 4 paragraph 2. In the case of decisions on appeals against notices in accordance with § 6a, a member of the Department for the Interests of Disabled and Chronically Ill Students is also a member of the Hardship Committee. The committee is summoned by the Hardship Fund Office. The summons period as stipulated by the AStA rules of procedure for an extraordinary AStA plenum applies. Minutes of the meeting, in particular the discussion and vote on the appeal, shall be kept in a non-public form and shall be kept by the Hardship Fund Office. |
§ 9 – Administrative costs & expenses of the applicants
Explanation to § 9
Here it is regulated that it currently costs nothing to file an appeal - regardless of whether the appeal is rejected or not. However, if other costs arise for you (e.g. loss of earnings because you want to be present at the meeting of the Hardship Committee), these will not be refunded.
| (1) | The administrative costs for processing the application and an appeal are covered by the student fee for the student body. No other fees are charged by the Hardship Fund. |
| (2) | Expenses incurred by applicants (e.g. travel expenses, loss of earnings) will not be refunded. |
Part 3: Documentation and data protection
§ 10 – Record keeping, data protection, retention periods
| (1) | The Hardship Fund Office shall keep the refund files separately for refunds under § 2, paragraphs 1 and 4, and § 2a, with § 2, paragraphs 1 and 4 being kept together. The refund files shall be kept as paper files; they may be supplemented by electronic file keeping. |
| (2) | The Hardship Fund Office ensures through technical measures that unauthorized persons do not have access to files and data of the applicants. Authorized to access are officers of the department of transportation, the financial officer, the members of the audit committee of the student parliament during the audit of the respective financial year, only such employees of the hardship fund office who have been instructed about data secrecy (§ 8 of the Rhineland-Palatinate Data Protection Act (rheinland-pfälzisches Datenschutzgesetz)) and are bound to secrecy. The instruction and obligation shall be put in writing. The members of the Executive Board of the AStA have a right to inspect the data if there is a factual reason to do so. |
| (3) | Members of the AStA who are authorized to access data, as well as members of the revision committee of the student parliament, must be instructed in advance about data secrecy and must be obligated in writing to maintain confidentiality about personal data. |
| (4) | The Hardship Fund Office may process the following applicant data electronically:
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| (5) | The Hardship Fund Office may transmit the following applicant data to the Division of Finance for remittance of the reimbursement or grant amount:
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| (6) | The Hardship Fund Office and the Student Secretariat of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz may mutually transmit the following data of the applicants for the purposes of determining the invalidation of the AStA semester ticket and for securing it during the current semester:
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| (1) | The retention period for the complete procedural files and electronically stored data according to § 10 paragraph 4 is 10 years. It begins with the end of the semester for which the refund applies. After expiry of the period, the files must be destroyed and the electronically created data deleted. |
§ 10a – Record keeping, data protection, retention periods for cases pursuant to § 2 paragraph 3
| (1) | The Department for the Concerns of Disabled and Chronically Ill Students keeps the refund files as paper files. After completion of the procedure, the files are archived by the Department of Finance of the AStA. |
| (2) | The Department for the Concerns of Disabled and Chronically Ill Students ensures that unauthorized persons do not have access to files and data of the applicants. Members of the Department for the Concerns of Disabled and Chronically Ill Students, members of the Department of Finance, the members of the Audit Committee of the Student Parliament during the audit of the respective financial year are authorized to access the files. In addition, the members of the Executive Board and the employees of the General Students' Committee shall have a right of inspection if there is an objective reason to do so. The persons according to sentences 2 and 3 are to be instructed about data secrecy according to § 8 of the State Data Protection Act (GVBl. 1994, 293) and are to be bound to secrecy. A record shall be kept of the instructions and obligations. |
| (3) | The Office for the Concerns of Disabled and Chronically Ill Students may electronically process the information specified in § 10 (4). |
| (4) | The Unit for the Concerns of Disabled and Chronically Ill Students may transmit the data specified in § 10 (5) to the Department of Finance and the persons specified in paragraph 2, sentence 3, for the purpose of transferring the refund amount and for accounting purposes. |
| (4) | The Department for the Concerns of Disabled and Chronically Ill Students and the Student Secretariat of the Johannes Gutenberg University may mutually transmit the data mentioned in § 10 paragraph 6 for the purposes of determining the invalidation of the AStA semester ticket and for securing it during the current semester. |
§ 11 – Audit right of the transport companies / transport associations
| (1) | The transportation companies/transportation associations that are contractual partners of the AStA for the AStA semester ticket can check the reimbursement practice of the AStA according to the contracts between the AStA and the transportation companies according to the hardship reasons as per § 2 paragraph 1. |
| (2) | The inspection by third parties must be noted in the file of the person or persons submitting the application. |
§ 12 – File inspection
| (1) | Upon request, applicants may inspect the file relating to their application free of charge and request information on the data stored about their own person, the purpose and legal basis of the processing as well as the origin of the data and the recipients of transmitted data, insofar as this is stored. In doing so, it must be ensured that no insight is granted into the data of other applicants. |
| (2) | The Department for the Interests of Disabled and Chronically Ill Students decides on the place and time of the inspection of files in the cases of § 2 paragraph 3 and the Hardship Fund Office decides in the other cases. |
Part 4: Financing
§ 13 – Refunds according to § 2 paragraph 1, 3 and 4
| The settlement of the refunds according to paragraphs 1, 3 and 4 is carried out with the numerical report to the transport companies and thus cost-neutral for the AStA. |
§ 14 – MVG-AStA hardship fund
| (1) | A hardship fund has been established to finance the subsidies for the semester ticket in accordance with § 2a. |
| (2) | The hardship fund is managed in the budget of the student body in the section of the semester ticket fund. The revenues and expenditures for the subsidies to finance the semester ticket according to § 2a are not to be designed to cover other titles. |
| (3) | The resources of the Hardship Fund shall be exhausted each semester. If this is not possible in a semester due to an insufficient number of approved applications, despite the highest possible funding according to § 7, paras. 2 and 3, the unused funds shall be exhausted in the next semester. |
| (4) | The expenses of the hardship fund are to be provided from the income from the sponsorship agreement between AStA and MVG. |
Part 5: Final provisions
§15 – Validity of the Semester Ticket Hardship Regulations
| (1) | The amendment to the Semester Ticket Hardship Regulations shall enter into force upon approval by the President of the University in accordance with Section 111 (2) of the Higher Education Act of Rhineland-Palatinate and publication in the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Gazette. |
| (2) | With the coming into force of these regulations, the provisions of the semester ticket hardship regulations of 23.12.2015 are repealed. |
Mainz, 04.05.2017
signed Halil Siabanoglou
President of the 67th Student Parliament
Click here for the Hardship Regulations as a PDF document (in German)