Factsheet for measure
HU-2020-18/717
–
Updated
– measures in Hungary
Interest-free student loans
Kamatmentes diákhitel
Background information
Under government decree 96/2020, students of higher education and adult education may take out an interest-free loan to offset their living expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The measure was introduced as part of efforts to help families with little or no savings. The measure sees students as a group vulnerable to losing their part-time jobs or not finding a job during the pandemic situation. The loan can be requested via the student loans provider Diákhitel Központ until 31 December 2020.
Content of measure
The amount of the interest-free loan for students in higher education is a one-off lump sum of HUF 500,000 (€1,429). Students in adult education courses organised by the Ministry of Innovation are also eligible. They can apply for an interest-free loan of HUF 1.2 million (€3,429). Students will have 12 months before they must start repaying the loan, which can be over a period of 1 to 5 years, at their discretion.
As part of this set of measures targeting students, the rules about losing students’ state scholarships on the basis of academic achievement will be suspended for the duration of the pandemic situation. Higher education students will not be required to pass language examinations during this period and the existing targeted language exam loans will be converted to the new 0% interest loan. There are also suspensions introduced on the repayment of other existing student loans.
Updates
The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.
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17 December 2021
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Applications will continue to be open with the same conditions until 30 September 2022.
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01 October 2021
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The measure has been extended until the end of the 'state of danger' due to COVID-19. The state of danger has been extended several times, the latest end-date under Act 102/2021 is 1 January 2022. To date 40,000 students have applied for the loan.
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17 December 2020
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The deadline for accepting applications for the interest-free student loans has been extended until 30 June 2021.
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Use of measure
More than 30,000 students applied for the interest-free loan which was available to take out for any purpose, the head of the loans centre said in December 2020. Typically students applied for the maximum amount of HUF 500,000 and half of them spent it on housing expenses, according to a survey by the centre. According to a press report in April 2021, a total of HUF 31 billion (€86.1 million) in student loans were issued in 42,000 new student applicants in 2020, three times more than in the previous year. More than two-thirds of the loans were the pandemic free-use loans that were available from 1 May 2020.
Target groups
Actors and funding
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Actors
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Funding
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National government
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National funds
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Social partners
Social partners' role in
designing the measure
and form of involvement:
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Trade unions
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Employers' organisations
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Role
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No involvement
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No involvement
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Form
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Not applicable
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Not applicable
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Social partners' role in the
implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
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No involvement
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Main level of involvement: Unknown
Involvement
No involvement.
Views and reactions
There was no involvement of social partners in this measure.
Sectors and occupations
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This case is sector-specific (only public sector)
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Economic area
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Sector (NACE level 2)
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P - Education
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P85 Education
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This case is not occupation-specific.
Sources
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10 April 2020: Government decree 96/2020
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21 December 2020: Deadline for interest-free student loans extended
(diakhitel.hu)
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06 April 2021: Past HUF400bn in loans
(www.vg.hu)
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29 September 2021: Students loan applications open again
(diakhitel.hu)
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17 December 2021: Student loan rates decided for 2022
(www.portfolio.hu)
