Student financial aid (or student financial support, or student aid) is financial support given to individuals who are furthering their

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

. Student financial aid can come in a number of forms, including

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

grant Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom *Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama *Grant, Inyo County, C ...

student loan A student loan is a type of loan designed to help students pay for post-secondary education and the associated fees, such as tuition, books and supplies, and living expenses. It may differ from other types of loans in the fact that the interest r ...

s, and work study programs. Each of these methods of providing financial support to students has its advantages and drawbacks. Many countries have some kind of financial aid program for their students. In countries that provide education to all at nominal cost, financial aid may have only a tertiary link to educational status, instead tied to the economic conditions of the family, and financial support for students is primarily indirect. In

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, for example, " ere is no system of student loans and ''direct'' support is only given in the form of means-tested grants to students from low-income families", which constitutes a very limited proportion of students.

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...

, ''OECD Economic Surveys: Belgium 2007'' (2007), p. 97.

Specific examples

* Student financial aid in Canada * Student financial aid in Finland * Student financial aid in Germany * Student financial aid in Sweden * Student loans and grants in the United Kingdom *

Student financial aid in the United States Student financial aid in the United States is funding that is available exclusively to students attending a post-secondary educational institution in the United States. This funding is used to assist in covering the many costs incurred in the p ...

References

Higher education {{education-stub