Procedure of granting of European mobility scholarships within the ERASMUS framework

A. Conditions of granting of European mobility scholarships

In order to obtain a European mobility scholarship, students must be fully registered at HEPCUT. A “fully registered student” means his/her file is complete and that he/she has paid his/her (possibly specific) tuition fees.

Granting of European mobility scholarships in 2008 – 2009 is determined by the taxable income (globally and distinctly) of the year 2006, taxation year 2007,

• of the people who support the student
• of the student if he/she supports himself/herself

This income must not exceed the maximum amounts set by the school’s Social Council as mentioned in the following chart:

In order to be able to calculate the part of income attributable to the student, the following ratio will be applied to the global taxable income:

(1) (1)a document called “Composition de famille” (family structure) and provided by the local administration is necessary to determine the number of people to support.

Within the same family, each child following Higher Education, except the student himself/herself, represents two people to support, just like handicapped children.

Making a note of the student’s income is made only with the student’s prior agreement and is submitted to professional confidentiality. However, if the necessary documents (e.g. tax assessment) are not provided, the amount of the European mobility scholarship cannot be calculated. Consequently, only travel costs can be refunded (up to maximum 340€).

An Erasmus year costs an average of 10 150€ net, which represents about 845€ net monthly of the part of income attributable to the student. This amount is considered as sufficient, i.e. we grant a minimum scholarship to students whose attributable part of the family income is greater than or equal to that amount.

Calculation chart

Imposing socio-economic criteria is required by the Erasmus Agency, using the following calculation:

Based on the tax assessment document (AER in French), the following notes are made of:

(a) (a)the globally taxable income of the household (parents) or the student (if he/she is no longer supported by his/her parents).

This income is raised by

• 40% for self-employed and professional people;
• 20% forfarmers/cultivators.

After raising (a), you obtain (a’).

Note: in a household, one partner can be a professional person whereas the other partner is not. In this case only the appropriate part of the globally taxable income must be raised by 40%.

The tax assessment document (AER) does not enable to make a distinction between a self-employed person and a cultivator. This information can be obtained in the student’s enrolment sheet.

Self-employed people and cultivators: AER code 607 or 608 for me, and AER code 632 or 633 for women.

Professional people: AER code 659 or 660 for men, and AER code 684 or 685 for women.

To (a) or (a’) you add yet the amount of :

• (b) the cadastral income of the building rented to private ends (AER code 106: indexed cadastral income raised by 25%) ;
• (c)the distinctly taxable income, after deduction of alimony (part II of AER, right after “imposable distinctement”. As this mention appears several times, amounts should be added).

The result obtained after adding (a) [or (a’)] , (b) and (c) is then multiplied by the following ratio:

This is how the part of income attributable to the student is obtained.

The number of children to support appears in AER chapter III called « Calcul de l’imposition » with the title « Quotités exemptées ».

When the student is no longer supported by his/her parents this ratio is not applied to his/her own income, of course. Particular situations where students have children to support themselves must be looked into one at a time.

Cost of a school year

In the French-speaking community of Belgium a school year in in Higher Education is estimated at 7,250€ (for a student who rents a room and pays full tuition fees).

The average cost of a one-year ERASMUS stay is estimated at 2,900€.

Therefore the global cost of an “ERASMUS year” is around 10,150€ net.

Basic principle

It is considered that a student whose attributable part of the family income is greater than the cost of an « ERASMUS year » has sufficient income.

As the cost of an “ERASMUS year” is estimated at 10,150€ (net), it represents about 15,435€ of gross income attributable to the student.

Categories of students

a) Students with sufficient income

Those students have an attributable part of their family income that is greater than 10,150€ net. It is suggested to provide them with a symbolic or very low ERASMUS grant. Unless their case is exceptional, it is suggested to grant them at least their travel costs, with a maximum of 340€.

b) Students with intermediate income

Those whose attributable part of the family income is between 3,150 and 10,150€ net are students with intermediary income. It is suggested to grant them an ERASMUS scholarship of minimum 50€ a month and possibly to raise this amount according to particular situations and to the school’s policy.

c) Students with insufficient income

These student’s attributable part of the family income is below 3,150€ net. They should be granted the most substantial ERASMUS scholarships.

B. File for granting of European mobility scholarship

Students aiming for European mobility hand in a file for granting of European mobility scholarship and therefore use a special « mobility » form available at all secretariats or that can also be provided by the mobility coordinator of the training unit concerned.

As soon as the form is filled in the General European Mobility Committee (GeEuMoCom) looks into the application for a European mobility scholarship, based on the criteria defined above.

The GeEuMoCom includes :

• The Director of Studies (Directeur-Président),
• the HEPCUT mobility coordinator,
• the mobility coordinators of all training units.

Two types of decisions can be made :

• granting of the mobility scholarship in accordance with the part of family income attributable to the student;
• only granting of travel costs, if the necessary documents (tax assessment) have not been handed in and the grant cannot be calculated.

Besides, students in mobility may apply for further financial help from the HEPCUT’s Social Council.