Figure of the month: 25

25 % of university students in Austria report experiencing severe or very severe financial hardship. The burden falls disproportionately on non-EU/EEA nationals, students in poor health, single parents, those from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, and those whose parents’ education did not progress beyond compulsory education.

These findings stem from the latest iteration of the Student Social Survey, conducted by IHS. Compared with the 2023 survey, the share of students facing financial hardship has decreased in 2025. Yet it remains higher than the pre-pandemic and pre-inflation levels .

One encouraging sign is that financial hardship has also eased among recipients of state student grants. This is probably due to inflation-linked adjustments to student aid and rising labour-market wages. In principle, state student support is fulfilling its core mandate. It enables recipients to spend more time on their studies and less on work, while maintaining a total budget comparable to that of their peers.

However, a deep structural flaw persists. The cohort of students qualifying for traditional state grants is shrinking. This is because the parental income thresholds used to assess eligibility are not being regularly adjusted for inflation.  This missing indexing leads to the exclusion of students who were considered socially needy and supported in the past.

Anna Dibiasi
IHS Researcher
Competence Center Survey Research

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