We co-finance education with the state: will there be enough grants for everyone and how to take advantage of this opportunity?

Everything new raises a lot of questions and in the absence of answers to them grows a number of conjectures. This is what is happening this year with grants — a form of encouraging applicants to enter specialties demanded by the state. This practice is completely new for educators, and even more so for entrants and their parents. Since this is a pilot project, many of its components and mechanisms are formed “from wheels”. Even government officials and initiators do not have ready answers, but this is not a reason to ignore the opportunity to get back at least part of the funds spent on education.

What is already known for sure?

Applicants who are lucky enough to enter the budget receive one hundred percent financial support from the state. Entrants who have passed the contract get the opportunity of so-called co-financing: the financial burden is shared between the parents of the new student and the state.

Two levels of support are already known.

UAH 15,000 is for students who passed the NMT at the level of 150 points for any two subjects or more. UAH 25,000 – this amount can be counted on by those who scored above 170 in two or more subjects. And that’s not all. If the specialty chosen by the applicant is strategically important for the state, these amounts will be multiplied by factors of 1.3 or 1.5. Therefore, the maximum grant will be UAH 37.5 thousand.

Why are different levels introduced? Because there is a different demand for specialties. Popular on the market of educational services “Management” or “Journalism” will require significantly higher starting conditions of the applicant in order to receive grant support – here we are talking only about the second level. The points are higher, but the support is heavier.

A factor of 1.3 is planned for specialties in which the state sees the restoration of human capital in the post-war period — philology, folkloristics, health care, computer technologies. The same applies to art specialties, where the component of individualized training of students — future artists — is very high.

The coefficient of 1.5 will, in particular, support education and pedagogy, architecture and construction, agricultural sciences, therapy and rehabilitation. The MES hopes that such coefficients will be a strong incentive for applicants.

What remains unclear?

The MES promises that there will be no quotas for receiving state grant support for newly graduated students.

As he said in an interview Ukrinform Deputy Minister of Education and Science Mykhailo Vynnytskyi, “all those who meet the criteria will receive grants.”

At the same time, the official says that the number of grant recipients is 20-22 thousand. This means that the number of grants is still limited. Or maybe the Ministry of Education and Culture is based on information about the success of passing the NMT, and then it is, to put it mildly, not inspiring at all. Given that about 280,000 graduates took the multi-subject test this year, it turns out that only 7-8% of entrants passed the 150-point barrier.

The method of crediting grant funds to the accounts of educational institutions also raises questions, because the money is initially received by students or their parents. In this regard, Mykhailo Vynnytskyi notes: “the first idea was that these funds should go through so-called special accounts, such as “eSupport” and “eRecovery”. Now, together with the Ministry of Digital Affairs, we are working on a slightly different mechanism in order not to force students to open separate special accounts.”

The deputy minister emphasizes that the cost of contract education in Ukraine already reaches European indicators, and this creates competition between Ukrainian and European universities. Therefore, grant support can also be considered as a struggle for a Ukrainian student.

What are the most common questions asked by entrants counting on grants?

Is it for a year or for the entire period of study? It is planned that grant support will accompany students throughout the entire period of study. If the student is forced to transfer to another university, but remains in his specialty, the money will “follow him”. It is also gratifying that the Ministry of Education and Culture will not demand the return of funds from those students who stop their studies without obtaining a diploma, although it is quite clear that this will be a waste of the state’s monetary resources. And such a risk should be calculated more carefully.

Currently, the state is ready to support only the bachelor’s level of education, but in the future, grant projects are also planned for II-III levels, that is, for master’s and postgraduate studies.

The state proposes – higher authorities agree or not

The system of grant support introduced by the Ministry of Education and Culture has a recommendatory nature for higher education institutions. They have the right to agree to participate in it or not. Currently, there are 114 universities that are already participating in this pilot project.

Entrants will be able to apply for grant support after enrolling in a higher education institution in their electronic account. A grant approval/disapproval notification should arrive there later.

Funds will be credited through the Action to make the process simple and clear. The Deputy Prime Minister for Innovations, Development of Education, Science and Technologies of Ukraine announced this in his telegram Mykhailo Fedorov.