Funding a degree in Italy
What actually exists here, what you can apply for, and where people most often get it wrong.
Send your transcript or degree, your average grade and your language level — we will say which programmes are realistic and which are not.
"Free tuition in Italy" is a half-truth
Italian public universities genuinely charge on a progressive scale tied to family income. Ministry of Universities and Research Decree no. 1014 of 03/08/2021 established the "no tax area" — full exemption below an ISEE of €22,000 — and many universities extend partial relief up to €30,000.
That is also where the trap sits. To obtain relief, an international student must correctly file an ISEE parificato — an Italian income assessment built from foreign documents, legalised and submitted by hard deadlines. If no ISEE is filed, the university automatically places the student in the top fee bracket.
Rules also differ by university: Politecnico di Milano states plainly that the ISEEU parificato sets your fee bracket but is not valid for applying for full or partial exemption, while Sapienza permits an ISEE declaration only for students with Italian income. This must be checked per university, not from general articles.
Scholarships: two layers
At national level, MAECI scholarships from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are worth €10,800, paid in three instalments, and applied for exclusively through the studyinitaly.esteri.it portal. An important caveat: we could not confirm whether Russia and CIS states appear on the eligible-country list for the current call — this must be checked against the official announcement.
At regional level, DSU (the right to study) is in practice the larger opportunity. Run by regional agencies, it includes a cash grant, student canteen access, subsidised accommodation and fee exemption, and international students are eligible. There is no single national deadline — each region sets its own, and missing it forfeits the largest part of the support.
Deadlines and amounts change from one intake to the next, and we do not publish the ones we cannot confirm. Look them up on the programme's official site — we will help you check the requirements and put the application together for your profile.
Finding your scholarships in Italy
We go through your profile, find the programmes you qualify for and build the application plan. The price for this destination is quoted once we understand the scope.
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