08 - Latvia - Financial support for students
Students are provided financial support in the form of scholarships, grants and loans as well as indirectly by discount of travelling costs in public transport.
Students
in the state financed places of educational institutions studying in
post-secondary vocational or higher educational programmes receive a
monthly scholarship for personal expenses paid from the state budget
subsidies. At the end of 2006 the provision of working students as not
being eligible to pretend for a grant was deleted, and now the only
aspect considered in conferring the grants is the student’s progress.
Loans
may be received by students who study in the institutions offering
state-licensed education programmes. They are paid from funds of credit
institutions with state guarantees. The total amount of money devoted
for loans is fixed at central level and the credit institution
allocating loans is chosen annually via auction. In order to receive a
loan a warrantor is demanded.
There are two kinds of loans - one
to cover tuition fees (study loan) and other to cover living expenses
(student loan). A study loan may be received by students of private
higher education institutions or by students who pay their tuition fees
in state institutions irrespective of the study form (full-time,
part-time, distance learning). A student loan may be given to all
students who study full-time in any higher education institution of
Latvia. Every year a bidding is issued on the list of professions for
which the loan of the tuition fee can be erased. For every served year
in the named institution of the state or the municipality, the amount
of the repayable loan is reduced by 10%.
If the student has a
job, every year he can apply for income tax reduction to the certain
sum of income, and get this money back from the state.
Some
exemptions exist regarding registration and/or tuition fees as well as
requirements for credit, e.g. orphans (till age 24) do not need to find
a warrantor in order to receive credit, they receive a 100% national
bail.
Dormitories are available for those without a dwelling-place close to the chosen higher education institution.
Eurydice - the information network on education in Europe
Date: 2009
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