Higher education is a valuable asset to society as for the individual. It is crucial, therefore, that we have a financing system that allows for studies. Today's student loaning system, however, scares people away from studying, especially people with non-academic backgrounds, and therefore does not sufficiently counteract the social imbalance in the recruitment to higher education. As long as we have a student loaning system, the possibilities for repayment exemptions must be very generous.

A student aid system which normally only offers financing to the student during three quarters of the year is obviously not satisfactory for students who lack other financing means. Uppsala Student Union therefore thinks that a voluntary three-semester system should be introduced, enabling the student to really study full-time and thus finish his or her studies sooner.

PhD studies can be financed in several ways, and the various systems involve varying degrees of social security. The most socially insecure system is grant financing, as the PhD student will then not be employed by the university and therefore will not have any of the rights of a university employee, such as vacation, social insurance and unemployment benefits. The Swedish Act (1962:831) on general insurance normally gives employees the right to obtain sickness benefits. But as a grant or scholarship is not regarded as sickness benefit qualifying income (sjukpenningsgrundande inkomst, SGI), the holder of a scholarship who turns sick will receive an extremely low sickness benefit, while at the same time risking to lose his or her scholarship.

Read more on what Uppsala Student Union believes and wants for students
Read more on why student aid should be increased