Advance on the scholarship

Who is eligible?

You are eligible for an advance on your scholarship if:

• We can confirm that you meet the nationality requirements and fall within the income limits set by the Flemish Government for a study allowance.

AND

• If you also meet one of the following conditions:
• You meet the academic requirements: 
  You are enrolled on a full-time study programme (at least 54 credits for a full academic year, at least 27 credits if you are only enrolled for the second semester).
• You have been granted an exemption category by the VUB justifying your enrolment in fewer than 54 credits,
• You can provide a certificate of family composition to prove that you are caring for a minor child,
• You can submit the ‘medical situation’ form completed by a doctor. 

The VUB does not grant advances to students who are aged 30 or over on 31 December of the academic year.

Request an advance

You can request an advance on the Scholarship from the Flemish government by making an appointment with someone at Financial Support or by sending an e-mail with all the necessary information.
Contact us

Deadline

To request an advance, you can contact us via e-mail until 1 September (at the end of the respective academic year).

You may request this advance as soon as:

• You are enrolled for this academic year, 
• you have registered your courses
• and you have applied for the scholarship
• and you meet the academic requirements: your enrolment comprises at least 54 credits, or you are eligible for an exemption from the full-time study programme of at least 54 credits
   

For the calculation of the advance on the scholarship and for the contract, please provide the following details by e-mail:  

• The desired amount;
• Whether you live in student housing;
• If applicable: information on recent changes that have occurred in the family (for example lower income, change in family composition over the past two years...)
• If you received a scholarship previous academic year: 
  • Scholarship decision letter from the previous academic year
• If you did not receive a scholarship previous academic year:
  • Information about your income
    • Are you a dependent student? We'll need details of your parent's income (tax bill for income of the last two years before the start of the academic year)
    • Are you an independent student? We'll need details of your income;
    • Are you a "married" (=legally cohabiting or de facto cohabiting and common children) student? We'll need details of your income and the income of your partner. 
  • Information about your family
    • Number of dependent children in the family; 
    • Number of people attending higher education; 
    • Number of persons entitled to tax benefits due to disability; 
    • Details of cadastral income from properties not resided in by you, the owner (= property owned by you, which you neither live in nor use for your business).  
• You are eligible for an exception to the full-time study programme.
  • Based on your graduation year, or because you are completing a preparatory programme or a bridging programme: no certificate is required.
  • Based on an exception category granted by the VUB: submit the certificate issued to you.
  • Because you have a dependent child: submit a certificate of household composition.
  • Because of your medical situation: submit the Medical Situation document completed by your physician.

Sign contract

Once we have drawn up a simulation of the scholarship from the Flemish government and determined how much of an advance can be allocated, a contract will be drawn up. 

This contract will be sent to your VUB account through Docusign. (Follow the instructions in Docusign.) We ask you to fill in your personal details, add a copy/photo of your ID card and sign the contract. 

After you have signed the contract, we will add a structured notification to the contract and sign this too. You also receive a copy of the signed contract by email. The payment can then be passed on to our financial department.