Circumstances beyond your control

To be eligible for financial (FinSCO) support, you must meet several conditions. The following criteria apply to all international students (who are not eligible for a basic grant from DUO):

• You were enrolled as a full-time student at Utrecht University (incl. University College Utrecht and University College Roosevelt) during the circumstances beyond your control.
• You must be able to prove the circumstances beyond your control.
• Your studies were delayed as a result of these circumstances beyond your control.
• You have consulted with a study advisor, student counsellor or student psychologist (within 3 months of the start of the circumstances beyond your control) about limiting your study delay or temporarily discontinuing your studies if your delay is more than 3 months. If you did not report your circumstances on time, you can still submit a request. In this case, not all your study delay may be reimbursed.
• You must have been delayed in your studies during the nominal duration of your degree programme. This is three years for a Bachelor's degree programme, and one, two, three or four years for a Master's degree programme, depending on the programme in question. Earlier enrolment years (in an equivalent degree-type: bachelor or master) in Dutch higher education will be deducted from this period.
• You must be under the age of 30 when starting your programme at UU in accordance with Article 10.a. of the Regulation.

Apply

If you meet the requirements, or if you believe you are eligible for financial (FinSCO) support despite the requirements, please apply. The student counsellor will contact you if further information is needed. Please note that on a few points, the Regulation is implemented differently than specified in the text. See the explanation in the yellow box above.

If you are entitled to a basic grant (DUO)

If you are a student entitled to a basic grant (basisbeurs, studiefinanciering) from DUO, please use the ‘Application for graduation support 2023-2024'. This is a separate Case in OSIRIS.

Applications for FinSCO (formerly graduation support) must be submitted after the academic year in which you were delayed. You can digitally submit a request for graduation support concerning study delay in 2023-2024 between 1 October 2024 and 31 January 2025 at te latest. The application consists of four steps:

1. Submit application form in OSIRIS Case
Log on to OSIRIS Student and select the tab Cases. Go to Start a new case (yellow circle with a plus sign) > Financial Matters, Verification and other documents and then select Application for financial (graduation) support 2023-2024 for international students. The deadline to submit the digital application form is 31 January 2025.

2. Upload supporting documents
After you submit the digital application form, you should also submit (upload) several additional items of supporting information via OSIRIS Case (documents including your personal statement and a study advisor's statement). This will enable the university to assess whether you meet the conditions. You must submit these documents via OSIRIS Case within three weeks of submitting the digital application form.

Please note: after uploading your documents, you need to submit these documents as well.

3. Assessment of the application by a student counsellor
One of the student counsellors will look at your application form and supporting documents. The student counsellor then forms an advice for the Director of Student and Academic Affairs.

4. Formal decision
The Director of Student and Academic Affairs will decide on behalf of the Executive Board. You will receive this decision in OSIRIS Case.

You can follow the status of your application in OSIRIS Case. The Executive Board will decide on your application within eight weeks after the receipt of your supporting documents. However, this deadline can usually not be met due to the large number of applications submitted just before the January 31 deadline.

Utrecht University will provide FinSCO (formerly: graduation support) for up to 3 months' delay in your studies per academic year. When determining the period of delay, the starting point is a regular study load of 60 credits per academic year.

Maximum period of support for students without a basic grant (DUO):

Support will be limited to 3 months for each academic year.

• For Bachelor’s programmes support will be limited to a maximum of 9 months for the entire Bachelor's programme.
• For Master's programmes, support will be limited to three months for each academic year, and three x C months for the entire Master's programme (‘C’ being the nominal course duration in academic years).

Financial support will never exceed 3 months per academic year.

Please note: The duration of financial support can be different if you have received student finance in the form of a basic student grant (basisbeurs) from DUO. More information can be found in the regulation Student Support Fund Scheme – Financial Support in Cases of Circumstances Beyond One's Control which you can find on our page about Utrecht University’s Student Support Fund.

The amount of financial support is € 425 per month delay in your studies.

Please note: The amount of financial support can be different if you have received student finance in the form of a basic student grant (basisbeurs) from DUO. More information can be found in the regulation Student Support Fund Scheme – Financial Support in Cases of Circumstances Beyond One's Control which you can find on our page about Utrecht University’s Student Support Fund.

Payment will be made after you have received the decision and will be in monthly instalments. The amount is tax-free and will be paid into your bank account at the end of the month, usually around the 26th. The university cannot make an exception to this payment schedule.

Formally, the first monthly installment will be paid after you have submitted your digital application. However, usually the formal decision is not made until one or more months after the start of the processing period. This means that two or more months of graduation support may be paid out at once.

You can find the Student Support Fund Scheme – Financial Support in Cases of Circumstances Beyond One's Control on our page about Utrecht University’s Student Support Fund.

Read the general information on studying with a disability at Utrecht University, and please make sure to (keep in) contact with your study advisor. If you are eligible for a student grant and loan and travel product from DUO (prestatiebeurs), then you may be eligible for additional financial compensation through DUO. The student counsellor will contact you on the basis of your application for graduation support if they expect that you may be eligible.