Santander Bank Erasmus Scholarships

Hello everyone!

One of the things that I have worried about the most whilst choosing my Erasmus destination and deciding whether to do it or not, is the issue of money and a budget.

Even though the Erasmus grant is really good, it's quite insufficient when it comes to covering costs. They give you a maximum of 300 euros a month for a maximum of 7 months, regardless of whether or not that covers your whole stay, so if you're there for 8 or 9 months, they will still only give you the money for a total of 7 months. Also, one part of the loan isn't even given to you until you get back home even though you will need the money be-fore then.

This year a new scholarship has arisen from the Santander Bank that very few people have come across up to now, so I am here to talk about that so that next year you will have the opportunity to apply for it.

As you can imagine, the loan belongs to Santander Bank and they give out a lot of money to students across the whole of Spain. So, something which is important to know, is that this loan is only available to Spanish Erasmus students.

Types of grant

There are three types of grant, with three different amounts of money. The largest is 3,200 euros, the second is 500 euros and the third is only 150 euros. As you can imagine, there are only a few 3,200 euros loans avail-able and there are loads more of the 150 euros loans on offer. These loans are evenly distributed among the number of universities that participate in the program, as not all universities actually take part.

My university for example, Carlos III de Madrid, had around one hundred and fifty or two hundred loans to distribute to just over 1000 Erasmus grants that have been given, so there are not a large number of those either.

Requirements

The main requirement is that you have been accepted an Erasmus+ mobility grant for the next academic year.

As despite there being many grants, they only reach very few people, what they have done is set certain criteria to prioritize those who need it the most. That is why students with a certain disability have preference and also those who have received the MEC grants from the Ministry of Education, since it is understood that they have fewer resources and that they need the money more.

Also, if you do receive the MEC grant, the amount they grant you from the mobility scholarship itself is also higher, approximately 200 euros more per month, although this year it has been reduced to 175 euros.

After this, the main requirement is the average of your academic record. The better your grade, the more chance you will have of qualifying for this loan, which is the case for most loans. So really try with your grades so that later on you could be able to choose this type of loan, which will work out really good for you in the end.

Equally, every university has the right to add their own requirements or their own order of preference. At my university, they prioritise people with an annual mobility loan as oppose to those who only attend for one semester.

When to apply for it?

Apply for this loan at the end of February, although this is a ballpark suggestion. This year, you have until the 28th of February to apply. So you need to make sure that you already have your Erasmus position accepted before then. At my university, they confirmed our positions with Erasmus a week before this date so that we could apply. However, in the first phase of allocation, many people were still left not knowing and ended up getting their confirmation in the re-serve phase. Therefore, all of those people couldn't apply for this loan.

In order to apply, all you have to do is fill out an online form with your academic details such as which degree you study and how long your stay abroad will last. It doesn't take long at all, so you don't have to do anything in person, other than a few cases with disabilities to consider, but even then, everything is fully explained.

After that, it takes around two months to settle the loan. This year, it was all sorted after just over a week, at the start of May, so I'm guessing that it should be pretty similar for the next few years.

Each university publishes its own list of people who have been awarded the loan, as in the end, they have to do their own paperwork for it anyway. As there are so few loans available for so many applicants and also, my university prioritises those who are going for the whole year, I didn't receive any of the three possible supporting loans this year.

However, the best thing to do is always to apply to every grant possible and sometimes you may be surprised and actually get it, as well as all the extra money that comes with it which, whether you need it or not, always comes to good use and can maybe improve your Erasmus experience that little bit more.

With this, I'm asking you to please make sure that you are always aware of all of the possible calls and grants that are released, and don't miss out on these types of opportunity.

I'll also leave you with this year's webpage which has all of the information available so that you can find it more easily: Santander Erasmus Scholarships

I hope you find this information helpful when sorting out next year and that you don't miss out on the deadlines.

Thank you for reading!