Erasmus+ Master Degree Loan

Overview

Erasmus+ Master Degree Loans are EU-guaranteed loans with favourable pay-back terms that can help you finance a Master course in an Erasmus+ Programme country.

The scheme is designed to support postgraduate students and protect them from student hardship with social safeguards including:

• No need for collateral from students or parents, ensuring equality of access
• Favourable, better than market interest rates
• Pay-back terms that allow graduates up to two years to find work before beginning repayment.

Currently the scheme is available through banks in Spain, France and UK, for outgoing students from these countries pursuing postgraduate study abroad and students from other Programme countries going to Spain, France or UK for a Master course.

As more banks from around Europe join the scheme, more destinations for postgraduate study will become available. Some 20 to 25 banks are expected to join the scheme by 2020

It is however not possible to say when exactly any particular country might be covered because the agreements with banks and student loan agencies will be done gradually on a country by country basis.

Duration

You can receive a loan of up to €12,000 for a 1-year Master or up to €18,000 for a 2-year Master (or equivalent amounts in foreign currency for banks in non-Euro countries subject to currency fluctuations).

Conditions

If you have completed a Bachelor-level (or equivalent) qualification and already been accepted onto a full Master programme in another Programme country, you may be able to benefit from a loan.

To be eligible you must live in a Programme country and your study destination cannot be in your country of residence or the country where you received your first qualification.

You can only receive a loan to study at a university holding the Erasmus+ Charter for Higher Education.

The loan is not available if you are only studying abroad for part of your Master qualification, though you may still qualify for an Erasmus+ grant.

The rate of interest charged on the loan will vary depending on which country the bank lending the money is based. Nevertheless, the rate of interest will be lower than standard commercial rates.

How to apply

To apply, address yourself to participating national banks or student loan agencies.

MicroBank (the social bank of la Caixa) in Spain was the first bank to offer Erasmus+ Master Loans in 2015. From June 2016, Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Epargne from France (both part of the BPCE group) started providing EU-guaranteed Erasmus+ Master loans, joined in September 2016 by Future Finance Loan Corporation (from Ireland) for Master students in and out of UK.

All the banks target both outgoing and incoming Master students, and applications must be made directly to them.

You have to apply through a branch of the banks or online, submitting the following documentation:

• Certificate of completion of the last degree you have completed prior to the Master degree you are applying for
• A receipt for the enrolment fee OR documentary proof of admission and of the cost of the Master course

Find out more

For the terms and conditions of their Erasmus+ Master Loans, please visit:

• MicroBank (outgoing & incoming students from/to Spain);
• Banque Populaire / Caisse d'Epargne (outgoing & incoming students from/to France)
• Future Finance (outgoing & incoming students from/to UK)

More information on the Erasmus+ Master Degree Loan.

Background information on Erasmus+ Degree Master Loans is available from the European Investment Fund.

Video

Erasmus+: More support for mobility with Stefan Jahnke, former President of the Erasmus Student Network, on new opportunities for students with Erasmus+.