Assistance grant

The assistance grant is a one-off benefit granted upon a documented request of a doctoral 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 gran 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 an assistance gran 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 grant application;
• the assistance gran is a one-off benefit that can be received up to 2 times during the academic year – as opposed to the social grant, which is monthly;
• The social scholarship is dedicated mainly to people with low income, in the case of the grant, the catalog of circumstances entitling to receive the benefit is much wider.

The regulations of benefits indicate that the assistance gran 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 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.

Note, however, that this is an open directory. What does it mean? Apart from those listed above, the application assessment team may also recognize other circumstances that will be demonstrated in the application.

The assistance grant 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).

All doctoral students of the University of Warsaw may apply for the assistance grant; the benefit is not payable to a doctoral student with a doctoral degree.

The assistance grant is a benefit awarded at the request of a doctoral student. The application is submitted by the USOSweb. After logging in at www.usosweb.uw.edu.pl to your individual account, go to the COMMON SECTION tab, and then APPLICATIONS. You must complete the “aid application” form for the relevant academic year.

The application for assistance 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.

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

• October 18, 2022
• November 18, 2022
• December 16, 2022
• January 18, 2023
• February 17, 2023
• March 17, 2023
• April 19, 2023
• May 19, 2023
• June 19, 2023
• July 18, 2023
• August 18, 2023
• September 18, 2023

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;

Scholarship Committee for Social Scholarship – a body appointed by the Rector from among students delegated by the competent body of the student government and employees of the University. The task of the commission is to award a social scholarship to students of all fields of study in which the teaching unit organizes education. The committee is also responsible for verifying whether students meet the conditions taken into account when awarding a place in the student dormitory (income and distance) and the criteria influencing the receipt of a place in the student dormitory (e.g. residence in the dormitory in the previous academic year, orphanhood of the applicant);

Scholarship Coordinator – an employee appointed by KJD to conduct matters related to granting a social scholarship to students of a given field of study or fields of study;

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.