That’s not quite how she imagined her college year, but Puk Willemoes cuts a fine figure: “There are fifteen of us in the hallway of my university campus and we were able to confine ourselves together. It has become my second family. And then my room is only nine square meters, so I have a small rent. “ Long brown hair and an easy smile, the 26-year-old is studying anthropology at the University of Aarhus, in the Danish province of Jutland.
Since mid-March 2020, she has hardly set foot at university due to the health crisis. Her job at a department store has disappeared. Financially, however, she is not doing too badly: “I pay 2,700 crowns [environ 360 euros] of rent per month. I have some money set aside and receive 5,300 crowns net of study allowances. For the moment, I did not need to take the loan guaranteed by the State. ” Fixed at 3,200 crowns per month, its amount was doubled in spring 2020, to help students in difficulty.
71% of students enrolled in university colleges in Sweden rated their economic situation in 2020 as good
In Denmark, the Statens Uddannelsesstotte (SU), the “state support for education” system, established in 1970, is an institution. It works in the form of 72 “monthly vouchers”, to be used throughout life, in the form of an allowance (about two thirds of the amount) and a loan, which about one third chooses to take out, at a rate of 4% during studies, then 1% thereafter, repayable within seven to fifteen years. “Studies are considered a form of employment and therefore give rise to remuneration”, summarizes Eva Lykkegard, associate professor at the University of Odense (South).
In addition to free higher education, this system has existed in all the Nordic countries for about fifty years. Despite their differences, these systems have one thing in common: access to assistance does not depend on parents’ income. Because, at the end of high school, “Young people are considered as adults and generally leave the family home”, specifies Mathias Tolstrup Wester, consultant to the Danish Evaluation Institute.
Isolation and distance learning
Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, these financial aid systems have enabled students in northern European countries to avoid the worst. While they suffered from isolation and distance learning, the impact on their finances was limited. And it is only at the margins that governments have had to make adjustments to compensate, for example, for the loss of income of those who had jobs beside their studies.
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