Everything you need to know about the social scholarship – academic year 2024/2025

Category: Social scholarship

Start, the most important basic information

On 2 September, the application for the social scholarship for the 2024/2025 academic year will start, the most important thing to remember about this benefit:

• A form of support for students who are in a difficult material situation, whose income per person in the family does not exceed 1570,50 PLN.
• The application is submitted 2 times a year – 1 time in the winter semester and 1 time in the summer semester – the scholarship can be received for no more than 5 months in the winter and summer semesters.
• The application must be submitted with a statement of income for 2023.
• Applications are submitted only through USOSweb – you do not need to print it or provide original documentation.
• From this academic year, to maintain your right to the scholarship for a given month, you only need to submit your application by the end of the month.

Example: if you apply on 31 October, you will have the opportunity to receive the scholarship with compensation from October, if you apply on 1 November, the scholarship can be charged from November.

The first date of submission of the application counts, even if it will still require corrections, so it is worth submitting even an incomplete application earlier.

In order to apply for a social scholarship you must submit:

• Income statement for the academic year 2024/2025 (base year 2023) and
• Application for benefit for winter/summer semester of academic year 2024/2025

The most important thing is the date of application, but without submitting an income statement, you can’t complete the application! Do not wait until your income statement is approved before submitting your application.

Remember to use your UW domain email when contacting our office (and more).

Payment dates for the 2024/2025 academic year will be published in September.

How do I check if I am entitled to a Social Scholarship?

The most common reason for rejection of a Social Scholarship is that the limit of semesters during which a person studies has been exceeded:

• in the case of first-cycle studies, it is not allowed to study longer than 9 semesters;
• in the case of second-cycle studies, it is not allowed to study longer than 7 semesters;
• in total, it is not allowed to study longer than 12 semesters.

Every semester started by the student counts towards this number, including studies and degrees obtained abroad – the application must indicate the exact start and end dates of studies undertaken outside the UW.

In addition, you cannot get benefits:

• in first-cycle studies, if the student already has a bachelor’s degree or higher;
• in second-cycle studies, if the student already has a master’s degree.

Who should be included in the family composition

As a rule, the composition of the family includes:

• the applicant;
• both parents of the applicant;
• the applicant’s spouse;
• the applicant’s children;
• siblings of the applicant – minors or students up to 26 years of age or with disabilities regardless of age.

The Applicant’s parents (one or both) are not included when:

• the parent is deceased;
• the parent is obliged by a court judgment to pay alimony;
• the parent is in prison;
• a parent is missing, as confirmed by the police.

When is parental income not required?

In some cases, he does not have to provide the income of other people from his family (you can settle your taxes yourself). This option is possible if:

• you are 26 years old,

or

• you are married,

or

• you have dependent children,

or

• you have reached the age of majority being in foster care,

or

• you have a permanent source of income, and your average monthly income in the previous tax year and in the current year in the months preceding the month of submitting the income declaration is higher than or equal to 1396 PLN.
  

From what period is the income taken into account?

The base year is 2023 and from this year we take into account income, based on a certificate from the tax office. Note, however, that the “as of today” situation is also taken into account, so if after 31 December 2023 up to the date of the statement there is, for example, a new income (e.g., a new job) or a loss of income from 2023 (e.g., loss of a job), this should be taken into account.

You can read more about the statement of income here: Everything you need to know about the income statement – academic year 2024/2025

What documents do you need?

Certificates from the US and ZUS cannot be replaced by a PIT or other document.

NOTE!

The above table does not exhaust all situations and all documents that you may be asked for in the application process, these are only the most common cases. The complete list of documents is included in the Regulations (Annexes 1 and 2). However, do not worry if you forget about a document, because the coordinators always ask you to fill in the gaps. Of course, any lack of documents and the need to supplement may delay the issuance of a decision.

When family members own a farm

Then we need to present a certificate from the relevant municipality office about the size of the farm – in physical and converted hectares. Then, too, instead of documents from the Social Insurance Institution, we present the corresponding certificates from the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund.

According to the announcement of the Central Statistical Office (GUS), the income for 1 conversion hectare is 5549 PLN.

Why do we need the documents?

Probably some of you are asking yourself this question when filling out an application for a social grant. Documents are used to confirm the reported income. When wondering what documents are needed, think about what income you received in 2023 and 2024.

Can I apply for a social scholarship at an increased rate?

You only need to meet one of the following prerequisites to receive a social scholarship at an increased rate. The prerequisites and sample documents supporting the prerequisites are in the table below:

It is worth remembering that the most common premise, the so-called commuting premise, can be used by people who commute to the university every day, from other towns and cities, as well as those who are forced to rent a room/apartment in Warsaw, due to permanent residence outside Warsaw.

Please think about what type of scholarship you want to apply for – unfortunately, it will not be possible, once the decision is issued, to change the social scholarship to a scholarship with an increased amount.

Social scholarship amount for the 2024/2025 academic year

• social scholarship amounts from 864 PLN to 1728 PLN,
• increased social scholarship amounts from 1404 PLN to 2268 PLN,
• basic amount is 1728 PLN,
• income threshold is 1570,50 PLN.