Student support fund (StOF)

When do I qualify for support?

You can apply for support if you experienced a study delay during the nominal duration of your bachelor’s or master’s due to circumstances listed in the StOF regulation, such as:

• Illness or pregnancy/childbirth
• A disability or chronic illness
• Special family circumstances

Important: you must report these circumstances within 3 months to your study advisor (by email or appointment). Reporting to someone else does not count as an official notification.

You must also:

• Be enrolled in a full-time bachelor's or master's at UT
• Pay tuition fees to UT

What do I need to do to qualify?

• Report your circumstances as soon as possible, no later than 3 months, to your study advisor.
• Make an appointment with a student counsellor for more information and advice (not required).
• At the end of the nominal study duration, you must make an appointment with the student counsellor. They will assess the amount of study delay and help you to prepare your application.

When do I submit my application?

Applications must be submitted no later than three months after the nominal duration of your bachelor’s or master’s programme has ended:

• September intake: before 1 December
• February intake: before 1 May
• Other intake month: within 3 months after the end of your nominal study duration
• Non-EU students (extra provision): before 1 July of the final nominal study year
• If you stop your studies: within three months of the deregistration date (by email with cpo)

What does the application consist of?

A completed application form, supported by relevant written documentation, such as:

• A statement from a doctor or psychologist registered under BIG
• A recognised diagnosis of a disability or chronic illness from a BIG-registered institution
• Written documentation showing the exceptional circumstances

Who assesses the application?

Your request will be reviewed by the Committee on Personal Circumstances (CPO), an independent committee. They may request additional information from your study advisor or the student counsellor. The CPO calculates your study delay based on the ECs (credits) you missed during the period your circumstances affected your studies. More details can be found in the full regulation.

Sometimes you will be delayed in your studies due to a situation that has arisen through no fault of your own within the study programme. As a result, education may not become logical or feasible for you. There may then be a so-called 'insufficiently feasible studyprogramme'. This means that you incur a lot of study delay through no fault of your own, because education is not logical or feasible.

What should you do?

• Always discuss this first with your study advisor or student counsellor.
• They will help determine whether educational circumstances apply.
• The application for compensation follows the same procedure as Part 1 of the regulation.
• The study programme is always involved in a request for an insufficiently feasible study programme. The CPO will ask the programme to give their view on the situation.

Do you have a Category 1 status through the Top-level Sports/Top-level Culture regulation? Then you may be eligible for compensation via the StOF regulation if you experience a study delay during the nominal duration of your programme due to these activities.

Conditions

• You have discussed study-related issues in advance with your study advisor.
• The delay is a direct and unavoidable result of practicing your sport or cultural activity.
• You discuss your study delay each year after the academic year ends with the top-level sports coordinator.

At the end of your nominal study duration, you can submit an official compensation request.

More information

Want to apply for a Top-level Sports or Top-level Culture status? Check the relevant regulation for all requirements and application details.

If you take on a board year or other major student engagement, this may delay your studies. In some cases, you can receive compensation through the StOF regulation. The StOF regulation only applies to UT students.

What counts as board work?

• Board positions in associations (culture, social, sports, study, etc.)
• Team members of a student team
• Positions in large, time-consuming committees of associations

Appendix 3 of the StOF regulation lists all boards and organisations that are eligible.

How do the grants work?

• Each group (sports, study, etc.) is entitled a predetermined number of grants (see Appendix 3 of the regulation).
• The umbrella or representatives of each group makes a within-group division of grants.
• Each board receives their assigned maximum number of grants.
• The board itself decides which board members receive the grants.
• The board must submit a request for payment within 3 months after the board year ends.

You can find the most recent division of grants within the groups on the website of the Student Union.

The Committee on Personal Circumstances (CPO) reviews applications on behalf of the Executive Board. If you have questions, you can contact the CPO secretariat.

A special arrangement applies to non-EU students in specific full-time boards: they can make use of a waiver instead of board grants. If you have any questions about this, please contact the Student Union.

1. Notify the study adviser: report your circumstances within three months.
   1. If the student fails to report the circumstances to the study adviser in a timely manner, the starting point of the circumstances will be considered to be the moment the student reported them.
2. Notify the student counsellor: when you are experiencing study delay due to your circumstances, report it preferably within three months.
3. Submit an application for a StOF compensation:
   1. EEA students must submit applications no later than three months after the nominal duration of the bachelor’s or master’s phase has ended:
      1. September intake – apply before 1 December
      2. February intake – apply before 1 May
      3. Other intake months – apply within three months after the end of the nominal duration of the relevant phase
   2. For non-EEA students the application deadline is July 1st of the final nominal academic year.
   3. EEA students who discontinued their studies at UT must submit their request no later than three months after deregistration by emailing cpo@utwente.nl.

Late applications shall be inadmissible and shall not be accepted. If you are able to substantiate that there is a valid reason why you are late, the CPO will assess whether there is reason to apply the hardship clause.

Submit as many pieces of evidence as possible. You can mail these to cpo@utwente.nl.

To be eligible for a compensation from StOF, you must meet the following requirements:

• Be a fulltime bachelor or master student at UT (Pre-master’s are not eligible).
  • It must be your first bachelor or master at UT.
  • In case of a double degree, the registration of your first and, if relevant, longest study counts for the calculation of the nominal duration.
• Have paid the statutory or institutional tuition fees.
• Have (or expect to have) study delay due to a circumstance in one of the following categories:
  • PART 1 – Personal circumstances of the student, including:
    • Illness, pregnancy, and childbirth;
    • A disability or chronic illness;
    • Special family circumstances.
  • PART 2 – Educational circumstances, including:
    • A degree programme with insufficient study feasibility;
    • Loss of accreditation of a programme.
  • PART 3 – Top-level sport and top-level culture
  • PART 4 – Board membership in a student organisation or student team participation

The amount of compensation you can get depends on the type and amount of study delay that your circumstance has contributed to. Regardless, in general the compensation per recognised month/grant is fixed at the amount of the DUO basic grants for students living away from home (EEA students).  For non-EEA students the compensation will be in the form of a waiver of the institutional tuition fee to the statutory tuition fee for the acknowledged period.

The amount of compensation and way of calculation is different for each part:

• For parts 1 and 2, the compensation will be calculated based on your study delay together with a counsellor. Therefore, please make an appointment with a counsellor to learn more about the calculation process.
• For part 3 (top sports/culture) you can receive one month of compensation per 5 ECs of delay.
• For part 4 (board grants) the amount of is determined per board through a division process of the sector/group your board belongs to. Every year, a new division is made and published on the Student Union website.

For more details and rules on the maximum amount of compensation you can receive, please check the regulation.

You can explain your situation in a consult with a student counsellor.

The Personal Circumstance Committee (CPO) will send you their decision by email to your UT-mail. When you want to receive the decision on another email address, please inform the registry of the CPO. 

You can file an objection at the Complaints Desk within 6 weeks after the date the decision was sent to you by sending an email to studentservices@utwente.nl or by submitting it at the Student Services desk.

If your circumstance occurred within your nominal study duration, you are eligible if you can still request it within three months after the end of your study duration. However, you must have notified your study advisor about your circumstance at the moment it took place or shortly after.

Yes, it does. If you do not notify your study advisor within 3 months after the beginning of your circumstance, the delay period will be calculated from the moment you reported your circumstance.

The nominal duration is calculated based on your FIRST registration for a bachelor or master at UT. Therefore, if you transfer from a different educational institute your nominal duration will start again here. If you transfer studies within the university, the nominal duration will remain set at three years after your first registration for a bachelor and one-three years for your master. The nominal duration of your bachelor will not have impact on the nominal duration of your master. Always have contact with a student counsellor to determine the nominal duration of your specific situation.

You can only receive compensation from StOF for study delay incurred during the nominal period of your studies. Therefore, even though your circumstances may persist, you can only receive compensation for the delay from the part of your circumstances that took place within your nominal duration. Regardless, the base rule is always, discuss your situation with a student counsellor for specific information for your situation.

In case of a double degree, the registration of your first and, if relevant, longest study counts for the calculation of the nominal duration. Therefore, your potential StOF compensation is based on the delay of during the nominal period of this degree.

Only in case of a proven insufficient feasible programme. But, for other circumstances, you are not eligible for a force majeure allowance.

That depends on how severe the study delay was in the earlier circumstance. In total, the maximum amount of StOF compensation an EEA student can receive is capped at 18 months/grants for their entire enrolment period at UT. For non-EEA students the tuition fee reduction applies for the number of recognised months, up to a maximum of six months.

If a student submits multiple applications due to overlapping circumstances (e.g., board work and personal circumstances), no more than 12 months/grants of support can be granted per academic year.