Declining a state-funded place will strip an applicant of the right to an educational grant

Applicants who received a recommendation for a state-funded place but declined it and enrolled on a contract basis lose their right to a state educational grant.

This was reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing the Admissions Procedure for Higher Education Institutions.

According to the admissions campaign rules, this restriction applies in cases where an applicant was recommended for a state-funded place under the highest priority but failed to meet the enrollment requirements and subsequently enrolled on a contract basis. In such a situation, the educational grant mechanism for paying for contract-based study becomes unavailable.

The rule applies regardless of national multi-subject test results. Even high NMT scores will not allow an applicant to receive grant funding if they voluntarily declined the state-funded place for which they had been recommended. The same procedure was applied during last year’s admissions campaign.

The key factor in this matter is the ranking of priorities when submitting applications. It is this ranking that determines which educational program an applicant may receive a state-funded recommendation for. In this regard, prospective students are advised to decide on their priority institution and field of study in advance — before submitting applications — so as not to lose the opportunity to study under the most favorable conditions.

RBC-Ukraine previously reported on the system of state grants for applicants with high NMT results who are studying on a contract basis: who can receive such support, what determines the size of the grant, which fields of study are funded at higher coefficients, and in which cases the right to a grant may be retained or lost. The outlet also wrote about the specifics of the 2026 admissions campaign.