The European Commission will finance social scholarships for 40,000 students in Romania through the European Social Fund Plus, to prevent university dropout.

The European Commission supports Romania in providing social scholarships for approximately 40,000 students from vulnerable backgrounds, through the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+). This initiative, coordinated by Roxana Mănzatu, aims to ensure the continuity of financial aid, considering that the payment of scholarships from the state budget has been temporarily suspended.

The Romanian authorities propose an increase of 60 million euros to the budget for the project 'Interventions for Higher Education', which will allow students to receive scholarships for a period of nine months in the academic year 2025-2026. The European Commission confirms that this measure is in accordance with the ESF+ regulation and supports young people from disadvantaged groups, contributing to the prevention of university dropout. In the long term, Romania intends to resume funding for social scholarships from the state budget, thus complementing European support.