The student financial aid increases but the allowance decrease

3 March, 2014

Recently the Swedish government made a proposal to raise the maximum student aid by 1000 SEK from 2015, in which the loan is raised by 1300 SEK, and the grant will be reduced by 300 SEK.

Note: This is information for students who are using the Swedish student aid (http://www.csn.se/en/2.1034/2.1036/2.1037/2.1040/1.9366)

The Union considers it positive that the Government decided to increase student aid as the expenditure has increased for us students in recent years, however, we are sceptical in that the government decided to raise the loan while the allowance decreases.

The reason for the allowance is lowered and the loan raised is that students now have the opportunity to work more during their studies as the amount you can earn without loss of student aid has been increased by approximately 30 000 SEK in 2014.

"We are making an improvement in student loans, students have received wider opportunities to work and then it might be reasonable to have a reduced allowance while the loan is increased", says the Swedish financial minister (translated from Swedish).

We in the Union believe that students should have the financial ability to implement our full-time study without working in parallel.

Furthermore, we see a risk of social inequality. Today there are several academic educations that are not financially worthwhile during a lifetime, ie, the wage a student gets of his/her education never outweigh the loss of income during the student years. As the burden of the loan becomes greater, there are a risk that people from economically weak households opt-out of higher education.

It has recently circulated many petitions and protest groups on social media, which includes UTN asking an open question about the change in the student aid. Many of the people who answered this were skeptical of the way the increase was incorperated.

Read more :

The governments proposal: http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/18451/a/234494

The Unions question about student aid on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/utnkar/posts/10202434800524126

From the Union's opinion programs (translated from Swedish):

1.1.1
it should be offered economic opportunities for the students so that they may complete their education.

3.2.1
students should have an equal opportunity for a good study economics regardless of social background.

3.2.2
student aid should increase as the necessary expenditure increases.