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Many scholarships available but few know about them
Cristina Pelerini
Romanian universities offer a wide range of student scholarships but many students seem not to know about them while others say they are too low to be worth applying for.
Several students interviewed for this article said that the university was making a mistake by offering so many scholarships and so little money. The result: many students do not feel motivated enough to apply for them. They would prefer to see fewer but more substantial grants.
The University of Bucharest offers the study scholarship worth 210 lei, the merit scholarship worth 250 lei and the social scholarship, worth 190 lei, valid for all faculties. There is also a performance scholarship whose value fluctuates for each faculty. In comparison, the Academy of Economical Studies in Bucharest has the following awards: study scholarship 270 lei, merit scholarship 370 lei and social scholarship 200 lei. In total, the ASE awards 1,858 study scholarships a year.
Cristina Petrescu, a first year student at the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication said: “I’m not very informed about this. I live in Bucharest and I don’t have to pay rent, but even like this 200 lei is not enough money to live on for a month. I think they should raise the sum to about 400 lei, just like the minimum salary accepted in Romania.”
Irina Iordăchescu, a third year student at Spiru Haret University has a grade two scholarship worth 400 lei. “I also have a part time job as a medical assistant at CFR2 hospital. It’s hard to do all these things at the same time, but I need the money. Learning in a private school is very expensive.”
Stela Irizan, a freshman at the University of Journalism and Mass Communication, who is from the Republic of Moldova receives money both from her country and the Romanian government. “That means I don’t pay the dorm rent and I get $50. I will get this money until I graduate. It is good to have these facilities but I must admit I can’t live on only 130 lei a month. I couldn’t make it without my parents help,” she said.
Petrescu said fewer scholarships and more money could be the solution “If they (the Ministry of Education) do not give more money for student scholarships I think it would be OK to have fewer scholarships of greater value for the ones who are really worth it,” she said. Iordachescu agreed: “I would like to fight for a consistent scholarship and give up my part time job. I would do that if I knew they were only five scholarships worth let’s say 1000 lei each,” she said.
Some students said it was worth striving to win the awards even if their monetary value was low. Andra Mihalcea, a first year Politehnica student, said: “Everyone wants to earn a scholarship, but few of us actually get it. It’s worth trying to have some extra money in your pocket. If you just want to learn, a scholarship is a prize for your work. The sum is acceptable.”
Still, students could not survive on such grants alone and would still need help from their parents, Mihalcea said. Iordachescu said it was hard to win a scholarship: “You have to learn a lot and there are lots of subjects. The students who win a first grade scholarship (worth 800 RON) have overall grades higher than 9.5. Those whose grades exceed 9.0 are awarded the second grade scholarship. Students fight for this money, even if it is little,” she said.
Others do not bother applying because they consider the sums given too small. “I don’t have a scholarship, but I’m not competing to get one either. I’d rather get a part time job or something. If there was more money, I think I would reconsider,” said Petrescu.
Others have no idea how much money is available. “I never earned a scholarship in my life and I don’t think I ever will. I don’t care for these things,” said George Bondoc a second year student of management and finance at the Spiru Haret University.
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