Study grant and reduced tuition fees for higher education

In order for a student to obtain a study grant, certain conditions must be met.

• Nationality
  You must be a Belgian national on 31 December of the school year for which you apply for the grant. If you are not Belgian, you or your parents must have lived in Belgium for some time and must be working or have already worked in Belgium.

• Income
  The decision to award you a study grant depends on your family situation and the income of the person(s) financially responsible for you. This includes their salary as well as extra income such as benefits and maintenance payments.

• Educational institution and study programme

  • You must be following a recognised course at an institution that is recognised, financed or funded by the Flemish Community. You can check this in the Higher Education Register (Hogeronderwijsregister) (in Dutch). Some courses are not eligible: private education, CVO courses, specialisation years or continuing education such as postgraduates, advanced bachelors and masters (‘BaNaBa’ and ‘MaNaMa’), preparatory programmes that grant access to continuing education (with the exception of second masters), doctoral studies, courses at open universities, summer schools, graduate courses in basic nursing (‘graduaatsopleiding Basisverpleegkunde’), part-time arts education, short courses in Belgium or abroad (such as language courses), courses at military or police schools, pilot training, training through the VDAB or courses provided by Syntra (please contact the payment agency for your child/family benefits in this case). Some evening and distance-learning courses are eligible. Specific conditions apply to studying outside of Flanders (in Dutch) (link in Dutch).
  • You must not have reached the maximum number of courses. The Flemish government provides support throughout your education and can award grants for two bachelor’s degrees, two graduate programmes, one master, one teacher training programme, one bridging programme and one preparatory programme.
  • Your course must lead to a diploma or degree: you must either be enrolled in a programme that ends in a diploma, in a preparatory programme or in a bridging programme (‘schakelprogramma’).
  • You must still have sufficient study grant credit.
  • You are only entitled to a study grant if you are enrolled on a full-time study programme (= 54 credits or more). The requirement to be enrolled on a full-time study programme
  • From the 2026–2027 academic year onwards, you must be studying full-time to be eligible for a student grant. This means you must enrol for at least 54 credits (this does not apply if you are in your final year of study).
    There are exceptions which means you may still be eligible for a student grant even if you do not enrol for at least 54 credits.
    More information: Exemptions on a full-time study path where you may still be eligible for a student grant
• Age (new since academic year 2026-2027)
  You must be under 30 years old on 31 December of the calendar year in which the school year begins. Anyone born in 1996 or earlier will already be 30 or older on 31 December 2026 and will therefore no longer be eligible for a student grant.
  There is an exception which means you may still be eligible for a student grant even if you do not meet the age requirement.
  More information: age requirement for a study grant

If you want Study Grants to start a file for you and assess whether you are eligible for a study grant, you can set up your profile in the e-portal for study grants from 2 June before the start of the academic year for which you wish to apply for a grant:

• In the e-portal, enter your contact details and bank account number
• Indicate that you would like a file (either just for the current academic year, or for every year you are still a student)
• You can grant access to a parent living at the same address as you so they can follow the file up.

Please note: for higher education, the student is both the person entitled to a possible study grant and the one responsible for arranging the file. Only the student can set up his or her profile.

As soon as the application has been started, you will receive an e-mail asking you to check and confirm your data and send additional information if necessary. We will notify you when we start processing your file.

For further details about the application procedure, see: Procedure voor een studietoelage (in Dutch) (link in Dutch).

Processing order

The processing order (link in Dutch) of files is based on family income. The lower that income, the faster your file will be processed.

Payment

The study grant will be paid to the account number you register in your student profile via the Study Grants e-portal itself. Do you have an approved file for academic year 2026-2027? Then you will receive your study grant within a few weeks. Do you have an approved file from an older academic year? Then you will receive your study grant within a few months. More information: payment of your study grant

Adding forms to your file

Usually, you don’t need to upload any more forms in the e-portal. In some cases you do, everything depends on your specific situation. You will always be notified by e-mail and in the e-portal when what information is needed. All forms must be drawn up in Dutch, French, German or English. If the document is not drawn up in one of these languages, it must be translated by a sworn translator.

Each year, there are different amounts for study grants (in Dutch) (link in Dutch). These are adjusted annually in line with the index. The amount of your study grant depends on how many study credits you are enrolled for and your family’s income. Those who stay in student accommodation (‘kotstudenten’) receive a higher amount.

If you qualify for a study grant, you automatically pay the lowest enrollment rate at your university or university of applied sciences. Even if you do not meet the requirements for a study grant, you may be eligible for reduced tuition fees (in Dutch) (link in Dutch).

If you are struggling financially, you can contact your educational institution’s student services to request an advance payment of your study grant (link in Dutch).