Scholarships for students across Ukrainian universities, colleges, and vocational schools will double starting September 1, senior lawmaker Yulia Hryshyna announced on Saturday.
The Ukrainian parliament allocated an additional 1.2 billion hryvnias in the 2026 state budget to fund the stipend increase. The measure was prepared by the Ministry of Education and Science following an initiative by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and officially adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers.
Hryshyna serves as deputy head of the ruling Servant of the People parliamentary faction and sits on the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Education, Science and Innovation. The Verkhovna Rada is Ukraine's 450-seat unicameral parliament, while Servant of the People has held a parliamentary majority since 2019.
Writing on her Telegram channel, Hryshyna said that keeping Ukrainian youth within the national education system requires creating proper living conditions. She noted that for many students, monthly stipends provide an essential financial baseline to pay for dormitory housing, public transport, and daily living expenses.
Detailed breakdown of scholarship rates
Under the new structure, monthly base academic scholarships for higher education students will rise from 2,000 hryvnias to 4,000 hryvnias. Students enrolled in specialized or high-priority university programs will see their monthly payments increase from 2,550 hryvnias to 5,100 hryvnias.
For vocational education and trade schools, monthly base stipends will double from 1,250 hryvnias to 2,500 hryvnias. Stipends for professional pre-higher education colleges will rise from 1,510 hryvnias to 3,020 hryvnias, while specialized college rates will increase from 1,930 hryvnias to 3,860 hryvnias.
Special academic and named scholarships awarded by the Cabinet of Ministers will also see caps increased. Students in vocational institutions can receive up to 5,000 hryvnias, college students up to 6,040 hryvnias, and university students up to 8,000 hryvnias per month.
Merit awards and presidential stipends
The government is also doubling awards for high-achieving pupils and gifted youth. Presidential stipends for winners of academic Olympiads and the Minor Academy of Sciences will increase from 2,600 hryvnias to 5,200 hryvnias monthly. The Minor Academy of Sciences is a government-funded educational organization that coordinates youth research projects across Ukraine.
Government stipends for winners of the Ukrainian language and literature Olympiad will rise from 2,360 hryvnias to 4,720 hryvnias. School pupils awarded the Taras Shevchenko stipend will receive 5,440 hryvnias, up from 2,720 hryvnias. Joint presidential stipends honoring Taras Shevchenko and Ukrainian-Canadian philanthropist Petro Yatsyk will pay 2,840 hryvnias for school pupils, 5,740 hryvnias for college students, and 7,600 hryvnias for university students.
Presidential stipends for young artists will be set at 2,500 hryvnias for art lyceum pupils, 7,600 hryvnias for college students, and 10,000 hryvnias for bachelor's and master's degree candidates.
Dormitory fees and testing reform
Ukrainian news agency UNIAN previously reported that Zelenskyy had outlined plans to establish 4,000 hryvnias as the base student stipend while explicitly aiming to prevent fee increases for student dormitories.
Zelenskyy also announced plans to allow high school graduates to retake the National Multi-subject Test a second time within a reasonable period if their initial attempt fails, allowing them to remain eligible for the university admissions campaign. The computer-based examination serves as Ukraine's standardized university entrance test.
