Financial aid

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In order for financial aid to be provided, certain criteria related to academic achievements, country of citizenship, and income must be met.

Academic criteria

• The student must be enrolled as a full-time student at the undergraduate or graduate level
• Over the course of their studies, a student may apply for financial aid from the Student Welfare Office for up to 7 years, broken down as follows:
  • No more than 4 years of financial aid may be provided during undergraduate studies (Bachelor’s programme).
  • No more than 3 years of financial aid may be provided during graduate studies (Master’s programme), if the student’s course load is 120 ECTS.

Depending on your specific situation (longer studies, duration of the Master’s programme, extraordinary circumstances, etc.), the number of years of financial aid may be adjusted. Do not hesitate to visit us for more information.

Citizenship criteria

• Belgian

• Assimilated to a Belgian citizen :
  
  According to the Student Social Service, an assimilated student is a citizen of a country in the European Union or outside the European Union who, on October 31st of the concerned academic year, meets one of the following criteria:

  • benefit from a long-term settlement permit in Belgium
  • benefit from the status of refugee/candidate refugee/stateless person/temporary subsidiary protection
  • have a father/mother/legal guardian or spouse/legal cohabitant of nationality of an EU member state
  • be authorized to stay for more than three months in Belgium on the basis of long-term resident status acquired in another EU member state

• European Union :

  Reminder: according to Belgian law, an EU student must have a minimum means of subsistence to enable them to meet their needs without becoming a burden for the public authorities.
  The means of existence that a student should have

• Students from outside the EU

  • A non-assimilated Belgian student who has obtained a study visa must have at least €789/month to enable them to meet their needs without becoming a burden for the public authorities and having a guarantor.
  • The guarantor must have regular and sufficient means of subsistence for himself, for any person dependent on him, and for any national of a third country supported. These means that it must be at least equal to €2,008.32 net/month, to which is added the minimum amount that each third-country national in care must have, i.e. €789 net/month (amount set for the 2023/2024 academic year).

Financial criteria

Financial aid is granted to students with modest resources. The income of the people on whom the student is dependent—or the income of the student themself, if applicable—must not be above set limits. The income used for this calculation is the household’s income, i.e. taxable and non-taxable income in Belgium.

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 Download( plafonds-sse-2022-2023_1657803112152-pdf?ID_FICHE=92498&INLINE=FALSE )

The 2024-2025 financial aid application form is now available on the monULB portal.

The Student Social Service will analyze your request from August 26, 2024 and will contact you to schedule an appointment.

Please note : the tab « dans mes frais d’études” has been modified by the tab “dossier au Service Social Etudiants”  

Visit us on your MonULB portal, in the section ‘My virtual secretariat’ - ‘My financial situation’ - ‘My financial request ’ - ‘dossier au Service Social Etudiants’. 
After filling out the online form, you will be directed to your digital case file. There, you can upload all the documentation required.

After completing the web form, you will be redirected to "Digital File".
It is a platform to upload the necessary documents.

Be sure to scan all of your documents into PDF format.

Once all the documents have been scanned, in order to obtain an appointment with a social worker, you must send an email to the address sse@ulb.be (with your surname, first name, registration number , telephone number and the subject of your request)

You can follow the financial aid application procedure step by step by downloading the guide and then the list of documents to scan according to your situation:

Consult the list of documents to scan if you are Belgian or assimilated
 
Consult the list of documents if you are a citizen of the European Union
 
Consult the list of documents if you are a national of a developing country

We remind you that SSE assistance is granted on the basis of a complete file, financial and academic criteria and after analysis by a social worker.

Financial aid is limited (maximum amount in 2023-2024), and depends on criteria defined by the CASE. The amounts given cover expenditures related to studies:

• The Student Welfare Office contributes to the cost of books and handouts
• For exceptional expenses, the Office may contribute to costs incurred to buy or rent equipment directly related to your studies.
• The Office contributes to the cost of public transportation. In Brussels, the tramway, bus and metro networks are run by STIB. Brussels is also served by several railway stations. The Belgian company in charge of railways is SNCB. These two companies give preferential rates to students and recipients of social benefits. Please visit their respective websites for pricing information.
• The Office contributes to costs related to dissertations. The aid may be given in the form of money, or as a PUB card, and only covers a single year.
• Exceptionally, the Office may contribute to your medical costs (vision, hearing, etc.). It works in close collaboration with ULB’s Medical Centre.

The Student Welfare Office mainly provides the types of aid listed above, that are directly related to your studies. This aid can be completed by a cash allowance.

It's purpose ? 

For Belgian, assimilated Belgian and European Union students:

The exam compensation allowance is an aid intended to compensate for a loss of income due to days of absence linked to taking oral and/or written exams.

The compensatory internship allowance is an aid intended to compensate for a loss of income linked to a compulsory internship period.

This aid is only granted to scholarship students and to those who benefit from a legal intermediate reduction in their fees.

For students outside the European Union:

The exam compensation allowance is an aid intended to compensate for a loss of income due to days of absence linked to taking oral and/or written exams.

If you are looking for a job, ULBJob centralizes job offers for students who cover part of their budget themselves.

How to get it ?

The student must submit his request to the Student Social Service by means of a financial aid application file.
An appointment will be set with a social worker to analyze their situation.

The student can challenge the decision that was opposed to him:

- initially, by a free appeal to the head of the Student Social Service (by appointment, made by email) lodged within 8 days from the date of the decision
- secondly, with the Appeals Committee, within a maximum period of one month from the date of the decision

Steps

The student will be invited to complete an appeal form, given by his social worker.
The student will be summoned by the Appeals Committee to be heard.