When we speak about Italy, we picture a lavish, rich culture, advanced engineering and fashion-forward place in our minds. And why shouldn’t it be? Italy is famous for its food, culture, landscapes, cities, fashion and of course cars. Therefore, when I say Free education in Italy, some might not believe me in the first place.
So, let’s rewind a little when not everything was available on YouTube and the only effective way of influencing someone was through Word of Mouth. A friend of mine, Ragini, was going to study abroad in Italy and she was the talk of the town, which led me and many others to think why shouldn’t we too? After all, Ragini belonged to our small city, she was as good at studies as we all were and like us, she also was from a middle-class family.
It was all about studying abroad then. My family got concerned as they didn’t want to send me abroad (I am their only daughter). And the expense of studying abroad further increased their concern. I remember my mom telling me that students who go abroad to study, then become attached to the lifestyle there and then never return(weird concerns parents have, thank you Baghban). Nevertheless, I persisted which led to the creation of a barrier between me and my family.
One day at a mall, I met Ragini again, who was shopping for her stay in Italy. I took her to the food court and ordered some Ravioli for both of us (bribery you ask? Umm maybe!).
And soon we were talking about Italy, its food (now you know why I ordered Ravioli), the culture and the studies of course. I told her how things are a little complicated at my family because of my urge to go for studying abroad. To my utter surprise, she had gone through the same! Then how did you manage to convince them, I asked.
Because my education is free, she replied. There was silence for a while as it was difficult to process this information all of a sudden. Slowly she told me that there are other countries too that provide free education like Norway and Germany but that’s only for the tuition fees. However, in Italy, things were a little different. Here are the things that I came to know:
If you pass the scholarship test(Government Scholarship for International students), which is independent of grades, your entire tuition fee is waived off. For private universities, the tuition fee is between 4000 Euros to 25000 Euros and for public universities is between 1000 Euros to 4000 Euros.
To clear the scholarship test, you’ll have to show a few certificates that prove that your financial condition is not very strong. Once verified, the government of Italy will give you a scholarship of 5200 Euros, which is approximately 4,30,000 INR.
This scholarship will give you enough amount to pay for accommodation, food, and transport, and you will also get discounts on canteens, book vouchers, and a whole lot of other benefits. And you have to pay a nominal tax annually which can be from 10 Euros to 150 Euros and that can be easily managed from this scholarship as well.
Why does Italy give free education?
Just as you may be right now, I too was wondering about the same. But it’s actually a very smart move of the government of Italy. You see, it is a cycle. The government will give you scholarship and from that amount, you would be paying rent, incur transport charges, shopping, taxes and other expenses. Hence, the money they gave you will rotate in their economy itself, benefitting other citizens too who are involved in commerce and trade.
Once you finish your studies, you will be providing effective and quality services to them and also pay the taxes. So, in all, the government of Italy is rather reaping benefits by this free education system.
Now, after knowing all this, I ran towards my home and called everyone in the living room. Like I was expecting, my family guessed that something is coming. I told them about free education in Italy and not surprisingly they didn’t believe me at first. It would have been a shock anyways if they would have agreed to it at once.
The next day, my results came and I was selected in the topmost college of my city. The happiness of getting selected there was enough for me to forget about Italy but the info I had shared with my family opened the doors to others. Today, my cousin is working in Italy after taking advantage of the free education in Italy and never stops thanking me for it.
It feels so good to be able to do something for someone, especially when you wanted to do that too. I am glad I could help and would be even happier if any one of you reading this takes the advantage of it. This is just my story about how I learnt about the free education system in Italy, if you want to know more, you can always contact team LF for further guidance.
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