Won by the ÖH: In the appeal procedure, the student is awarded study allowance for his 6th Master’s semester, as the entitlement period is to be extended due to the particularly extensive scientific work.
Student Y begins a master’s degree program in social sciences in the winter semester of 2013. The program has a minimum duration of four semesters. In principle, he is therefore entitled to study grants for five semesters for this study program, provided that he submits examinations amounting to 20 ECTS credits or 10 semester hours to the study grant authority after one academic year. In the summer semester of 2016, he is in his sixth semester, but he has not yet completed his studies because he is writing a particularly extensive master’s thesis.
Y applies to the student aid office for an extension of entitlement to student aid for his studies. The authority initially rejects the extension of the entitlement period with the argument that Y is gainfully employed alongside his studies. The, from the point of view of the authority, excessively long duration of studies was in his case due to the student’s gainful employment.
According to the Study Support Act (StudFG), the period of entitlement to study support can be extended if there are special reasons for doing so, for example, if an above-average and time-consuming academic paper is being written. The prerequisite for this is that at the time of application for an extension of the entitlement period it is expected that the recipient will be able to complete his/her studies within the extended entitlement period (in this case within six semesters). Furthermore, the recipient must have registered the academic work at least one semester before the end of the entitlement to study grants (in this case by the end of the fourth semester). Finally, a confirmation by the student’s supervisor is required that the scientific work is particularly extensive and the application for extension must be submitted by the student at the latest by the application deadline for study grants in the semester immediately following the period of entitlement (in this case the application deadline of the sixth semester, thus May 15, 2016).
All these conditions are present in the case of Y. Together with the Department for Social Policy of the Austrian National Union of Students (ÖH), the student drafts an appeal against the decision of the study grant authority. This conclusively states that the particularly extensive academic work is the reason for the study time delay. Thereupon, the authority corrects its decision in the appeal procedure.
Won by the ÖH: In the appeal procedure, the student is awarded study allowance for his 6th Master’s semester, as the entitlement period is to be extended due to the particularly extensive scientific work.
Further successes from consulting at www.oeh.ac.at/geschafft
