Need-based study allowance
Need-based study allowance can be applied for by a student (except for a doctoral candidate):
... who is a citizen of Estonia or resides in Estonia on the basis of a permanent or temporary residence permit;
... who is not on academic leave;
... whose period of study has not exceeded the standard period of the curriculum;
... who studies full-time and completes the curriculum’s requirements at least 75% or studies full-time in the first semester;
... whose family’s monthly income per family member is below 569 euros.
The family by Estonian law is considered to consist of:
- up to 24-year old (inclusive) student and
- parents of the student;
- minor siblings and half-siblings of the student;
- up to 24-year old (inclusive) siblings and half-siblings, who are either pupils or students.
- 25-year old or older student is considered as a separate family.
- A student and his/her legal spouse and/or children, in case the student is married or a parent or guardian of a child, no matter of the student’s age.
There are three different sizes of need-based study allowance: EUR 75, 135 and 220 per month. The receipt and amount of the allowance depend on the average income of the student and their family members in the previous calendar year. The family’s average income is calculated on the basis of taxable income (gross income is taken into account) in the calendar year preceding the academic year of applying for the allowance. In the academic year 2020/21, the taxable income to be looked at is of the year 2019 (from January to December).
If the monthly income is up to 142,25 euros, you are eligible for a need-based study allowance of 220 euros per month; if the monthly income is 142,26 to 284,50 euros, you are eligible for an allowance of 135 euros per month; and if the monthly income is 284,51 to 569 euros, you are eligible for an allowance of 75 euros per month. You are not eligible for this allowance if the monthly income per family member exceeds 569 euros.
Steps for applying:
- International student, please be aware that in order to be eligible for the scholarships to be applied through state-portal (need-based study allowance), an Estonian ID code (isikukood) is needed, and must be inserted to SIS. If it is not inserted, please send your Estonian ID code to the Study Abroad Centre: studentvisasupport [ät] ut.ee
- Your residency in Tartu needs to be registered, non-EU students need to have valid TRP.
- To apply for the allowance, you have to submit an application in the Estonian education portal haridusportaal.edu.ee. The state portal lacks the respective details of student’s family members and their income (unless student has registered as tax-resident during the required period), therefore you need to upload the respective documents:
- Document proving the consistence of your family at the current moment - an official and all inclusive list of family members on one paper, issued by an official institution (generally, no birth certifications or parents’ marriage certifications are asked or approved). This document is necessary also for a 25-year old or older student. The only case when this exact document is not required, is when the student is married and does not have children – in this case the document can be replaced by marriage certification.
- Documents confirming the income of you and each of your adult (18-year old included) family member during the previous calendar year (see who are considered your family members above). These documents must be issued by a public institution, e.g. tax office of your country (generally, no salary extracts by your employer etc. are asked or approved). The student, who was a tax-resident in Estonia during the previous year, can request this data from Estonian Tax and Customs Board. The document must include the whole year, from January to December. In academic year 2020/2021, the income documents need to cover the year 2019.
- If you are considered to belong to the same family with your parents (see description above) and your up to 24-year old sibling is studying at the moment, a certificate of his/her enrolment is needed.
- The authenticity of all the public documents issued in a foreign country (not Estonia) needs to be certified. The documents need to be either legalised or certified with an apostille, if an international agreement does not foresee otherwise. Please see further explanation here. The public documents issued in Republic of Lithuania, Republic of Latvia, Republic of Poland, Ukraine, Russian Federation, French Republic, Kingdom of Belgium, Kingdom of Denmark and Ireland do not have to be legalised nor certified with an apostille.
- All the non-English public documents need to be translated into English or Estonian by a translation bureau. Translations do not need to be affirmed by a notary.
- Upload all those documents together with their translations in education portal haridusportaal.edu.ee. ID card, bank passwords or mobile ID can be used to log in to the portal.
Need-based study allowances are granted twice per academic year: for the autumn and spring semesters from the month of application (and not backwards) until the end of the semester. Applications can be submitted during the entire semester, from September to June.
In the month of submission of the application, the allowance will be paid seven days after granting the application. Thereafter, the allowance will be paid within the first seven working days of each month. The allowance will be transferred to the student’s bank account indicated in the state portal.
All the above is general description based on Estonian laws and regulations and the decisions will be made by the state. If the state portal contains an error regarding the study load you have completed, please contact the university. With other questions relating to the allowance, please contact the Ministry of Education and Research.
Students whose family members’ monthly income has exceeded the established maximum limit (569 euros) per family member per month in previous year, but has decreased recently, have the possibility to apply for need-based special allowance. For that, the student needs to do the same procedure as described above to receive the negative decision on need-based study allowance. Pay attention: for need-based special allowance you need to provide the document of your family members’ income during last 3 months, this must comply with the same requirements of authenticity certification (legalization or apostille) as all the other documents issued in a foreign country. Therefore, it might be easier for an applicant to acquire all the necessary documents at the same time.
Please be aware that the documents to be submitted must fully comply with the requirements set in relevant legislation, thus getting the requested documents from various countries across the world is time-consuming.
More info about need-based study allowance: oppetoetused [ät] rtk.ee