National Information

Belgium - German Speaking Community Map

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OVERVIEW

In Belgium - German speaking community, home and international full-time students are required to pay fees.
Second and short cycle programmes are not available. There is no part-time student status.
There is no fee differentiation depending on the education cycle, the field of study (specific discipline) and programme (taught in foreign language, studying for a second degree etc.).
Waivers or reductions are not available.
Direct financial support is provided by need-based grants. Merit-based and universal grants are not offered. Loans are available. Combination of grants and loans is possible.
Indirect financial support to students and their families is provided in the form of tax benefits (for students' parents) and family allocations. The age limit for eligibility of student parents for tax benefits is 25 years.

Academic year
Type of support

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Minimum, maximum, and most common annual fee amounts (in EUR)

Cycle
Type of Students
Status of Students

FEES

In the German-speaking Community, there is only one higher education institution, the Autonome Hochschule Ostbelgien, offering a few first cycle full-time programmes. All programmes are taught full-time.There are no foreign language programmes either.
There are no students on non-state subsidised places.
International students are subject to the same policies applied to home students.
Students with poor performance and/or extended length of studies are not required to pay higher fees. Students who need to extend their studies by half a year are required to pay 100 EUR registration fee plus 150 EUR tuition fee. If their studies are to be extended by more than half a year, they need to pay 450 EUR like all other students.
The share of fee-payers is 100%.

Annual grant amounts (in EUR)

Cycle
Type of Students
Status of Students
Type of Grants

DIRECT FINANCIAL SUPPORT - GRANTS

Need-based grants are available to home and international students.
Merit-based and universal grants are not offered.
Award of grants is done by the Ministry and depends on compliance with certain conditions (family income).
The grants are provided in monthly instalments for the duration of 10 months.
The total share of grant beneficiaries is 43% (home full-time students).
The age limit for accessibility to grants is 35 years.

Annual loan amounts (in EUR)

DIRECT FINANCIAL SUPPORT - LOANS

Publicly subsidised loans are available to home and international full-time students.
Award of loans depends on the study programme. Since 2023 a new loan system was introduced to counter shortage of skilled professionals. Students studying a discipline considered as under-represented can apply for an interest-free loan of €350 per month. If the recipients of the loan work at least half-time in the German-speaking Community of Belgium for 5 years in the next 10 years after completing their studies, they do not have to repay the loan.

Further readings

Belgium - German-Speaking Community | Eurydice (europa.eu)

Family allowances