Resizing school scholarships in Romania: generosity and budgetary sustainability

The Minister of Education and Research, Daniel David, announced the intention to resize the school and university scholarship system, in the context of current budgetary pressures and the economic crisis. According to him, Romania currently has the most generous scholarship system in the European Union, with a budget that has increased from under 1 billion lei in 2022 to 6.4 billion lei in 2025.

• Two criteria for resizing

The minister emphasized that the modification of the scholarship system will be based on two principles: The rational criterion - reporting to good European practices regarding the share of beneficiaries;

The state's budgetary capacity - how much Romania can afford in the current economic context.

• Current situation: an imbalance between merit and reality

David compared Romania with other European countries such as Italy and Germany, where merit scholarships are awarded to a maximum of 10-15% of students in a class, while in Romania the minimum is 30%, reaching even 90% in some colleges. "We have started to transform education into a form in which we give grades to obtain scholarships, which is not right", the minister pointed out, warning about the risk of artificial inflation of grades and undermining the authentic value of academic performance.

• Social scholarships - national priority

The minister sent a firm message: social scholarships will not be affected, even if the total scholarship fund must be reduced. Moreover, he argued that in 2026 the full coverage of social scholarships will be maintained for all students in need, as part of the right to compulsory education. "Social scholarships must be preserved, even if the fund is huge. (...) The social scholarship fund in 2026 is larger than all the scholarships in 2022 combined."

• Students, less favored compared to pupils

In university, the increase in the scholarship budget was much more moderate compared to the explosion of scholarships in pre-university. Hence, a warning regarding the imbalance and the need for equitable recalibration in the entire educational system. The minister also touched on a sensitive topic: subsidies for political parties. He warned that possible cuts in the area of scholarships must be correlated with cuts in other areas, including politics, in order to maintain a balance of public trust. "If subsidies for parties are not reduced, but scholarships and other social components are, then yes, we have a problem."

Romania is facing a necessary reform of the scholarship system, at a time when education is closely linked to equity, efficiency and budgetary sustainability. Protecting social scholarships seems to be a firm commitment, while the merit scholarship risks being redefined closer to European standards. What will ultimately matter, however, is the balance between performance, social equity, and fiscal responsibility - all under the umbrella of a broader reform of Romanian education.