The Erasmus programme is dealing out grants unfairly. This is according to students who feel cheated by a complicated system that rewards students from some regions while penalizing others, apparently at random.
The Erasmus exchange programme offers European exchange students grants which are intended to offset the extra costs that arise from studying abroad.
But questions to a sample of international students by the University Post reveal large differences: While some Eastern European students claim around EUR 500, a German student has to make do with a miserly EUR 100.
Grants used for summer holiday
Many international students receive a mishmash of grants from their university, the Erasmus programme, and besides that, a top-up by a national grant.
According to the EU Commission’s Directorate General for Education and Culture, students from a country with a lower standard of living get a higher grant going to a country with a high standard of living.
But students say that the system is unfair.
»I pay twice as much for my room here in Denmark, compared to my friend who went to Poland. But I receive just ten euro more from the programme than she does,« says Dutch Erasmus student Kim Teo.
Read the European Commission's defense of differences in Erasmus grants here.
While Kim borrows money from the bank to make ends meet, her friend in Poland is now saving money for summer.
Germans get next to nothing
»Erasmus grants should be EUR 250 on average EU-wide,« says Natascha Sander, Information & Communication officer, stating European Commission policy in response to a University Post query.
But even our cursory query among students shows that some receive considerably less, others considerably more.
And even within nations there are differences. Aitor Veiga from the northern Basque city of Pamplona gets EUR 420 a month, while Veronica Martinez Vidal from the Spanish capital Madrid feels the pinch with just EUR 150.
»I think this is not fair because we are all university students from the same country and we should have the same rights and opportunities,« reacts Veronica.
Overall, it is best to come from Poland, with a monthly grant that is sometimes as high as EUR 550 a month. Worst is to come from Germany, whose students sometimes have to settle for only EUR 100, according to our sample.
Who gets what? See the full results of the University Post's mini-survey here.
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Comments
TIME TO CHANGE THE SYSTEM
The Erasmus grants shouldn't reflect which country you come from but which country/city you are going to and the cost of living in that city. It's a bizzare concept that students because of the country/uni they are from get 500 EUR even if the choose to go to a city where the cost of living is dirt cheap!
Last year I was in Spain, and
Last year I was in Spain, and I've got 275 EUR monthly. My friends from German 570 EUR.
Is not depend only from country, but from University (in my city 3 different Universities sent for Erazmus and the differences between grands was around 150 EUR).
Moreover, for my parents giving me additional money in EUR was much more harder first of all cause our salaries aren't so hight like in west European countries, and because of changing with currency - EUR was between 3,2-5,0 Polish Zlotys - so differences each month was quite big for them.
No Money for Non-EU Students
Whatevs, guys. Non-EU nations, like the US and Australia, don't get paid anything to study abroad. Everything comes straight out of the students' pocket. Everything. That is, unless you are able to find yourself a scholarship somewhere. But no free Erasmus-type money for us.
true. !! yeh that's really
true. !! yeh that's really unfai i mean there is no funding for us -_- not only when dealing with exchanges, but tuition fees are so damn high ! WTH and then you get nothing! 14000 € or more a year ? Ar you fuckin kiddin me?
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