Social stipend

I. When determining the amount of income entitling a student to apply for a social grant for the academic year 2023/2024, income for 2022 (provided that during 2022, 2023 and up to the date of application, the financial situation in the family has not changed) achieved by:

student;
the student's spouse;
parents, legal guardians or actual guardians of the student;
minors dependent of the persons listed above, children in education up to the age of 26, or, if they turn 26 in the final year of study, until the completion of their studies, and children with disabilities regardless of age.

II. The monthly income per person in the student's family entitling the student to apply for social scholarship, is determined in acccordance with the rules specified in the Act of 28 November 2003. on family benefits , with consideration of persons defined in paragraph I. points. 1, 2, 3, 4 with the proviso that if the student is financially independent the income does not include the persons listed in sec. I item 3 & 4.

III. A student is financially independent and may apply for a social stipend if they:

do not run a joint household with any parent, legal guardian or de facto guardian and confirmed this fact in the submitted declaration and meets one of the following conditions:
1. is at least 26 years of age or
2. is married or
3. has dependent children referred to in paragraph I item 4, or
4. has reached the age of majority while in foster care, or
5. had a regular source of income and their average monthly income in the previous tax year and in the current year in the months preceding the month of submission of the declaration referred to in section 5 is greater than or equal to 1.15 of the sum of the amount set out in Art. 5 sec. 1 and the amount set out in Art. 6 sec. 2 item 3 of the Act of 28 November 2003 on family benefits.

IV. Income does not include :

benefits for students received under the provisions of the Regulations for Benefits for JKU Students (social stipend, disability stipend, financial aid, Rector's scholarship) and the university's own scholarship fund,
scholarships received by pupils, students and doctoral students under the:
- European Union Structural Funds,
- non-reimbursable funds derived from assistance provided by member states of the European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA),
- international agreements or implementation programmes drawn up to those agreements or international scholarship programmes,
material assistance benefits for students received under the Act of 7 September 1991 on the educational system;
benefits of a social character granted by other entities referred to in Art. 21 sec. 1 item 40b of the Act of 26 July 1991 on personal income tax (JoL of 2021 item 1128).

V. In case where the calculation of the amount of income entitling a student to apply for a social stipend, income from running an agricultural holding is taken into account,, this income is based on the area of arable land in converted hectares and the amount of average income from work on individual holdings from 1 converted hectare, pursuant to Art. 18 of the Act of 15 November 1984 on agricultural tax (cons. text JoL of 2020 item 333) of the most recent calendar year preceding the year application is submitted in. In the case of income from an agricultural holding and income from non-agricultural sources, the income shall be added up.

In the case of calculating income from an agricultural holding , the annual income from 1 converted hectare is taken into account, which is announced by the President of the Statistics Poland in the second half of September of a given year for the previous tax year.

Loss of income, only refers to the income indicated in Art. 3 section 23 of the Act on family benefits, i.e.,

acquiring the right to parental leave,
loss of unemployment benefit or compensation,
loss of employment or other gainful activity,
loss of pre-retirement aid or pre-retirement benefit, teacher's compensation benefit, as well as an retirement or disability pension, survivor's pension, social pension, parental supplementary benefit referred to in the Act of 31 January 2019. on a parental supplementary benefit or a cash benefit granted under the rules set out in the Act of 8 February 2023 on a cash benefit due to family members of officers or professional soldiers whose death occurred in connection with service or undertaking off-duty activities saving human life or health or property
deletion from the register of non-agricultural economic activity or suspension of its performance within the meaning of Art. 16b of an 20 December 1990 Act on social insurance of farmers Art. 36aa section 1 of the Act of 13 October 1998 on the social insurance system,
loss of sickness benefit, rehabilitation benefit, or maternity benefit due after the loss of employment or other gainful work,
loss of ordered maintenance due to the death of the person obliged to provide such maintenance or loss of cash benefits paid in the event of ineffective enforcement of maintenance due to the death of the person obliged to provide maintenance;
loss of parental benefit,
loss of maternity allowance as referred to in the provisions on social insurance for farmers,
loss of a doctoral scholarship as defined in Art. 209 section 1 & 7 of the Act of 20 July 2018 - Law on higher education and science;

Obtaining income, only means income indicated in Art. 3 section 24 of the Act on family benefits, i.e.,

ending parental leave,
obtaining unemployment benefits or scholarships,
obtaining employment or other gainful work,
loss of pre-retirement aid or pre-retirement benefit, teacher's compensation benefit, as well as an retirement or disability pension, survivor's pension, social pension, parental supplementary benefit referred to in the Act of 31 January 2019. on a parental supplementary benefit or a cash benefit granted under the rules set out in the Act of 8 February 2023 on a cash benefit due to family members of officers or professional soldiers whose death occurred in connection with service or undertaking off-duty activities saving human life or health or property
starting non-agricultural economic activity or resuming it after a period of suspension within the meaning Art. 16b of an 20 December 1990 Act on social insurance of farmers Art. 36aa section 1 of the Act of 13 October 1998 on the social insurance system,
obtaining sickness benefit, rehabilitation benefit, or maternity benefit following the loss of employment or other gainful work,
obtaining parental benefit,
obtaining a maternity allowance as referred to in the provisions of the social insurance of farmers,
obtaining a doctoral scholarship as defined in Art. 209 section 1 & 7 of the Act of 20 July 2018 - Law on higher education and science;

The catalogue of situations related to loss or gain of income is closed. This means that the legislative system prevents it from being extended to include other contingencies at will.

The provisions on loss and gain of income and shall not apply to income from employment or other gainful employment and income from deregistration or commencement of non-agricultural business activity, if the student or a member of the student's family has lost income from such titles and, within a period of 3 months counting from the date of the loss of income, has gained income from the same employer, customer or commissioner or resumed a non-agricultural economic activity. In the event that a social stipend is awarded after taking into account the loss of income from employment or other gainful activity or income from non-agricultural economic activity, after the lapse of 3 months, counting from the day of income loss, the established right to the stipend shall be verified.

A student whose income per person in the family does not exceed PLN 600 is obliged to enclose with the application a certificate from a social assistance centre or a social services centre on the use, of social assistance benefits by them or by members of their family in the year of submitting this application.

The certificate must contain up-to-date information so that it can contribute to the clarification of the case and thus constitute evidence within the meaning of the Code of Administrative Procedure.

The obligation to submit a certificate also applies to foreigners who can apply for a social stipend.

If the applicant does not attach such a certificate, the scholarship committee or the scholarship appeal committee is obliged to refuse to grant a social stipend to the student.

Where a student referred to above, or members of their family, are not receiving social benefits, benefits, the SC or ASC may award a social stipend to that student if the latter has documented sources of family support

The student is obliged to report changes in income and family composition or other changes affecting the eligibility to or the amount of the social stipend, within 14 days from the occurrence of the event. The application for recalculation of income is attached to the Regulations.

Social stipend in increased amount

In particularly justified cases, a student may receive a social stipend in an increased amount.

Formal-legal eligibility for a social stipend

Benefits are available for first-cycle studies, second-cycle studies and uniform Master studies.

A student studying simultaneously in more than one field of study may only receive a social stipend in one of the fields, indicated by the themselves.

The total period for which benefits are available is 12 semesters, regardless of whether students is accepting them, with the proviso that within this period benefits are available for:

first-cycle studies - no longer than 9 semesters;
second-cycle studies - no longer than 7 semesters.

The total period referred to in sec. 4, shall be extended by 2 semesters when the student has undertaken an uniform Master degree studies, the duration of which is 11 or 12 semesters as stipulated in the regulations.

All semesters of studies started by the student, including semesters falling within the period of use of leaves of absence, shall be included in the period for which benefits are granted, with the exception of semesters of further first-cycle studies started or continued after the first Bachelor's, Engineer's or equivalent degree has been obtained. In the case of studying more than one field of study, semesters taken concurrently are treated as one semester.

The provisions above shall apply mutatis mutandis to students who have studied or obtained their degrees abroad

Stipend benefits are not available to a student holding a Master, Master of Engineering or equivalent degree, regardless of when and in which field of study it was obtained.

The right to these benefits is also not applicable to a person holding a Bachelor's degree, Engineer's degree or equivalent if they are enroling for a first cycle studies.

Detailed criteria for granting benefits to students are described in Regulations of benefits for students of Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce.