Assistance grant

The assistance grant is a one-off benefit granted on a documented request of a student who, for reasons beyond his control, found himself temporarily in a difficult life situation causing costly and short-term difficulties in studying.

The assistance grant is a benefit dedicated to people who find themselves in a temporarily difficult life situation through no fault of theirs. There are several key differences between a social grant and a social grant:

• the social grant is closely related to the applicant’s income situation, a number of other factors are taken into account when considering the assistance grant;
• the assistance grant is a one-off benefit that can be received up to 2 times during the academic year, unlike the social grant, which is paid monthly;
• The social scholarship is dedicated mainly to people with low income, while in the case of the assistance grant, the catalog of circumstances entitling to receiving the benefit is much wider.

he regulations of benefits indicate that the assistance grant may be obtained, in particular as a result of:

• the death of the applicant’s child, his/her spouse or parent, provided that the applicant was dependent on the parent;
• loss of medical assistance necessary for study, in particular corrective glasses or rehabilitation equipment;
• loss of a permanent and main source of income by the applicant, his spouse or his parent, provided that the applicant is dependent on a parent;
• sudden illness or accident of the applicant or a member of his immediate family;
• the urgent need for the applicant to care for a sick member of the immediate family;
• damage caused by fire, water damage, natural disaster or other catastrophe.

However, keep in mind that this is an open directory. What does it mean? Apart from those mentioned above, the application assessment team may also recognize other circumstances that will be indicated in the application.

Funds for the social scholarship, such as the assistance grant, the rector’s scholarship and the scholarship for the disabled come from the Scholarship Fund, i.e. funds granted by the Ministry of Education and Science in the form of subsidies. This means that the funds that will not be used (provided that more than 70% of the subsidy funds are spent) are transferred to the next accounting year (ie the next calendar year).

60/40 – maximum proportions of the Scholarship Fund allocation. At the same time, the funds allocated for the Rector’s scholarship cannot account for more than 60% of the funds disbursed for the Rector’s scholarship, the social scholarship and the assistance grant.

The maximum amount of the assistance grant is assessed by the UW Student Council Board.

Assistance grant applications can be submitted throughout the entire academic year, also during the summer holidays. Due to the fact that it is a one-off benefit, there is no set day of the month to which the application should be submitted in order to obtain compensation (as is the case with the social grant).

You can get an assistance grant if:

• you are a student at the University of Warsaw;

and

• you are in a temporarily difficult life situation through no fault of yours;

and

• you do not study for more than 12 semesters, with the proviso that during this period you are entitled to benefits for:
  • first-cycle studies – not longer than nine semesters;
  • second-cycle studies – no longer than seven semesters.

The benefit is not granted to: a student with the professional title:

• Master’s degree, Master’s degree in engineering or equivalent,
• bachelor’s, engineer or equivalent if he resumes first-cycle studies.

We submit the application via USOSweb. After logging in at www.usosweb.uw.edu.pl to your individual account, go to the COMMON SECTION tab, and then APPLICATIONS. You fill out an Application for assistance grant.

The application is submitted as an electronic document. Electronic submission of applications in USOSweb is done using the action “NEXT: SIGN AND SUBMIT ELECTRONICALLY“. After clicking on this button, USOSweb will open another screen where you will need to enter an authorization code, which will be sent to your email address. Only after the authorization code is entered will the electronic submission of the application via USOSweb take place. Do not submit paper applications.

The application for assistance grant should be submitted immediately, but not later than within three months from the date of the event entitling to granting the benefit, unless the applicant reliably proves and documents that, for reasons beyond his control, it was impossible to submit the application within this period.

The applicant is obliged to document a difficult life situation; in particular, he should demonstrate that there is a cause and effect relationship between a specific event and a temporary difficulty in life causing costly and short-term difficulties in studying, and provide documents enabling the assessment of the applicant’s financial situation in order to determine the amount of the assistance grant.

Filled in – the application is in the process of completion, you can freely make changes to the document. Please note that applications and statements with this status will not be verified.

Delivered – at this stage you can no longer make changes to the application/statement. From this point on, the documents are subject to verification. To avoid problems related to the submission of the application/statement, make sure that USOSweb shows your email in the UW domain. 

Declared incomplete/Declared incorrect – during the verification of the application, the coordinator found errors or missing documents. Most often, you will find detailed information on how to improve your application in a comment visible in USOSweb or in your email inbox.

Ready for consideration – document verification has been completed. The application is ready for processing.

Verified – the status of the application indicates that a decision will be made available soon.

Considered (decision to be delivered) – the decision will be made/has been made available in USOSweb. Please be patient as the decision will be made available after it is signed, so it may take a few days for it to appear in USOSweb. The decision can be found in the “list of administrative letters” tab (log in to USOSWeb -> Common Section, and then on the left in the column find the “list of administrative letters” tab).

The assistance grant will be paid by the Financial Department of the University of Warsaw on the following dates:

• 18 October 2024
• 18 November 2024
• 18 December 2024
• 17 January 2025
• 18 February 2025
• 18 March 2025
• 17 April 2025
• 19 May 2025
• 18 June 2025
• 18 July 2025
• 18 August 2025
• 18 September 2025

The maximum amount of the assistance grant is PLN 5500. You can get the aid twice in the academic year (for 2 different reasons).

[What is a request for reconsideration?]

An appeal or otherwise a request for reconsideration is a legal remedy against an administrative decision of the authorities of first instance. In the event that the Rector is the authority issuing the administrative decision, a party is entitled to a request for reconsideration. The provisions on appeals against decisions shall apply mutatis mutandis to a request for reconsideration.

[Competent authority for considering your request for reconsideration]

The body competent to consider your request is the Rector of the University of Warsaw.

[Time limit for filing a request for reconsideration].

Pursuant to Article 129 §2 of the Code of Administrative Procedure (k.p.a.), an appeal shall be lodged within fourteen days from the date of delivery of the decision to the party. When calculating this deadline, pursuant to Article 57 §1 of the Code of Administrative Procedure (k.p.a.), the day on which the decision was served shall not be taken into account. This means that if the decision was, for example, served on 1 October, the deadline for lodging an appeal expires on 15 October. Just remember to submit your request for reconsideration in accordance with the procedures and within the time limit!

[Obligatory elements of a request for reconsideration]

The request for reconsideration should compulsorily contain the following elements:

• the identification of the person from whom a reconsideration request is made
• the postal address of that person
• the indication from which the reconsideration is requested
• handwritten signature

Pursuant to Article 128 of the Code of Administrative Procedure (k.p.a.), an appeal does not have to be justified in great detail. It is sufficient that it shows that the party does not agree with the decision taken. Therefore, you do not need to provide many details or arguments – it is enough to express your dissatisfaction with the decision taken.

[How to submit a request for reconsideration]

An appeal shall be lodged with the competent appeal authority through the authority that made the decision.
The appeal may be lodged:

• in person to the Student Welfare and Support Office UW, which is located at 55 Dobra Street.
• by regular mail to the address of the BPM (ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 00-927 Warsaw) with the note “for BPM” ;
• via the UW Chancellery with the note “for BPM”;
• via ePUAP.

BPM – Biuro ds. Pomocy Materialnej / Student Welfare and Support Office;

Income – the definition of income can be found in §2 of Annex 1 to the Benefits Regulations;

Earned income – information on earned income can be found in §5 of Annex 1 to the Benefits Regulations;

Agricultural holding – area of land classified in the land and building register as agricultural land, with the exception of land used for business activity other than agricultural activity, with a total area exceeding 1 ha or 1 conversion ha, owned or owned by a natural person, legal person or an organizational unit, including a company without legal personality;

KJD – Head of the Teaching Unit;

De facto guardian – a de facto guardian of the applicant is in particular a person who is dependent – partially or completely – on him, and who is not his parent or legal guardian. In particular, actual care may be provided by the spouse of the applicant’s parent or the person with whom the applicant or his parent stays
in an informal relationship. (§1 section 10 of Annex No. 1 to the Regulations of benefits);

Legal guardian – the applicant’s legal guardian is a person who can submit a family court judgment to prove this fact (§1 (9) of Annex 1 to the Benefits Regulations);

Statements – statements about income not subject to taxation with personal income tax achieved in the base year and statements about the current income situation, in particular containing information on obtaining or loss of income;

Difficult life situation – The Regulations of benefits for students of the University of Warsaw do not contain a closed catalog of events entitling them to apply for the assistance grant. The benefits regulations indicate the following examples of events:

• the death of the applicant’s child, his/her spouse or parent, provided that the applicant was dependent on the parent;
• loss of medical assistance necessary for study, in particular corrective glasses or rehabilitation equipment;
• loss of a permanent and main source of income by the applicant, his spouse or his parent, provided that the applicant is dependent on a parent;
• sudden illness or accident of the applicant or a member of his immediate family;
• the urgent need for the applicant to care for a sick member of the immediate family;
• damage caused by fire, water damage, natural disaster or other catastrophe.

Loss of income – information on loss of income can be found in §4 of Annex 1 to the Benefits Regulations;

Applicant – a student or a doctoral student;

Flat-rate tax certificates – certificates of the head of the tax office on flat-rate income tax on certain revenues earned by natural persons in the base year, containing data of the taxpayer to whom the certificate relates, including: name, surname, PESEL number, and the form of the tax paid, and in the case of tax payment in the form of a tax card – information about the amount of tax due, and in the case of paying tax in the form of a registered lump sum – information about the amount of income and tax rate;

Certificate from the Tax Office – certificates from the tax office about the achieved
in the calendar year preceding the academic year for which the social scholarship is to be awarded, hereinafter referred to as the “base year”, income subject to personal income tax on the principles set out in Art. 27, 30b, 30c, 30e and 30f of the Act of 26 July 1991 on personal income tax (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1387), containing information about the tax year to which the certificate relates, taxpayer’s data, to which the certificate relates, including: name, surname, PESEL number;

Certificate from the Social Insurance Institution – a certificate of the amount of health insurance premiums paid in each of the months of the base year along with the codes of insurance titles or of no title to insurance in the base year, subject to paragraph 6 point 4 of Annex 2 to the Benefits Regulations.