PARLIAMENT VOTED FOR CHANGES IN STUDENT SPONSORSHIP - BENEFICIARIES EXPANDED BY 3,200 FAMILIES - Filenews 2/4 by Theodora Nikolaou
The Plenary Session of the Parliament unanimously approved the amendment of the State Student Welfare Law, in order to increase the number of beneficiaries, to remove the income and property criteria for families with more than five dependent children, as well as to increase the amount of student sponsorship by 10% for families with an annual family income of up to €44,000.
The main amendments concern:
- Increase in the beneficiaries of the state student welfare from the increase in the limit of the income criteria by €5,000.
- Increase in the amount of student grants granted to families with an annual family income of up to €44,000 by 10%.
- Increase in the beneficiaries of state student welfare from the abolition of income and assets for families with more than five dependent children.
- Abolition of the existing restriction, so that the beneficiaries of the state student welfare are now entitled to any other tax relief.
- Possibility of extending the deadline for the submission of applications for the granting of state student care following the recommendation of the Ministry of Finance and a decision of the Council of Ministers.
The positions of the MPs
In his statement to the Plenary, ELAM MP Sotiris Ioannou said that at a very low cost more students could be helped. As he mentioned, families with four children should also join. "We also consider it absurd for a family with six children based on the amendment for the first and second children to be entitled to student sponsorship, but the rest not to receive help if their parents exceed the income criteria. We call on the Ministry of Finance to have second thoughts and amend the law in this way as I have mentioned," he concluded.
Alekos Tryfonidis, on behalf of DIPA, stated that "the income criteria are expanded, the limits are increased, more students will be able to apply to receive the sponsorship, large families with five children or more will be entitled to the word dependents, the income and property criteria are deleted. However, while it is a very good move, there is a thorn that we would like to solve. The four children who are dependent on large families. It is inconceivable with such a problem that we have in the demographic issue to leave this issue for so many years."
AKEL MP Christos Christofides said that "after many years we finally have a step forward. We have the inclusion of about 3200 more families as beneficiaries of the student grant. We have at least a small increase of 10% in sponsorship for families with incomes up to €44,000 and we also have the regulation for families with five children or more. A few months ago, I asked the Ministry of Finance to inform me about the implementation rate of the fund for the student grant. In recent years, the implementation rate has dropped to 80%, because too many families were left out of the beneficiaries. In 2024 there was a budget of €50.8 million and €40.4 million were given. €10 million are left. By the same logic, there are €48 million for 2025 and the implementation will be less than €40 million. To reach €58 million the President had to bring a costed proposal for €20 million benefits. In this way, we would not give an increase of 3 and a half euros per week, but much more and large families would not be excluded and we could certainly see some more generous arrangements than the income criteria."
