Costs of study, student income, and study behaviour in Denmark.
8. Financial contributions by the students themselves
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Denmark has no data on property and savings of students. It is simply not registered separately, as it does not affect the students’ possibilities of receiving the state grant (and loan). Prospective income from securities, however, counts as personal income which must not exceed a certain amount (the individual "free amount") if the student wishes to receive the total grant.
Students may of course, have saved from earlier income for their years of study. However SUstyrelsen is only informed about students’ income earned in the tax year (calendar year) of enrolment for those who have applied for support.
Recipients of the state grant (and loan) are permitted to undertake gainful employment to a certain extent without losing the right to obtain the full range of the State Grant (and loan).
It is the responsibility of the individual student to make sure they do not earn more than pt. DKK 55.392 per year (Note: The amount differs all depending what time of year enrolment take place, which varies a lot) while receiving the total grant. If they do, they will be obliged to repay the excess (as described more thoroughly in chapter 4). But the individual student can make allowance for a higher income as he/she can choose to receive the grant for less than 12 months, which will increase the allowable income to an amount just under DKK 7.000 for each month he/she doesn't receive the grant (and loan).
Table 17. Grant and loan available 1997 while the student have a personal income besides from e.g. gainful employment.
| Income from e.g. gainful employment |
Grant available1) | Loan available | No. of months |
| 0 - 55.392 | 42.876 | 22.284 | 12 |
| 55.393 - 62.305 | 39.303 | 20.427 | 11 |
| 62.306 - 69.218 | 35.730 | 18.570 | 10 |
| 69.219 - 76.131 | 32.157 | 16.713 | 9 |
| 76.132 - 83.044 | 28.584 | 14.856 | 8 |
| 83.045 - 89.957 | 25.011 | 12.999 | 7 |
| 89.958 - 96.870 | 21.438 | 11.142 | 6 |
| 96.871 - 103.783 | 17.865 | 9.285 | 5 |
| 103.784 - 110.696 | 14.292 | 7.428 | 4 |
| 110.697 - 117.609 | 10.719 | 5.571 | 3 |
| 117.610 - 124.522 | 7.146 | 3.714 | 2 |
| 124.523 - 131.435 | 3.573 | 1.857 | 1 |
| 131.436 or more | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1)
Before taxSource: SUstyrelsen
The survey among students at the University of Copenhagen (See Appendix B) shows that at the time of the survey, only 8 per cent of the students were not, or had never during their period of study been gainfully employed. The 92 per cent who did work or had worked at some time, however, cover a wide range of working hours.
Table 18. The monthly number of work-hours among grant-recipients and non-recipient students
| Monthly number of work-hours |
Grant recipients | Non-recipients |
| ----------per cent vertical----------- | ||
| < 20 hours | 22 | 7 |
| 20 - 39 hours | 41 | 15 |
| 40 - 54 hours | 20 | 2 |
| 55 - 70 hours | 11 | 5 |
| > 70 hours | 7 | 71 |
Source: "Statens Uddannelsesstøtte - et effektivt uddannelsespolitisk styringsinstrument?", speciale 1997
Only 18 per cent of the grant recipients work to an extent that prevents them from receiving the total grant.
To receive the total grant the student cannot have income - besides the grant - that exceeds an amount of currently DKK 55.392 per year. This amount corresponds to 40 - 55 work-hours on a monthly basis. This income restriction has been fixed to prevent students from undertaking too extensive gainful employment. The Survey from University of Copenhagen (See appendix B) showed that there is a sharp borderline with respect to progress with studies, between students working more, or less, than 55 hours per month. With this indication in mind it is rather worrying to notice that more than 70 per cent of the non-recipients undertake gainful employment to an extent of more than 70 hours per month.
It should be emphasised that the survey referred to, includes only students at the University of Copenhagen. A statistical overview carried out by SUstyrelsen in spring 1996 showed huge variations in the extent of gainful employment among different groups of students. These variations could be related to geographical, study-related or more personal factors.
The statistical overview concludes that students at higher education institutions in the provinces undertake, considerably less gainful employment than students at institutions placed in the metropolitan areas.
Groups of students that tend to undertake less gainful employment, are students whose studies involve many class-room lectures as compared with students with only few class lessons and students who are parents. Also students taking short-term courses, tend to go out to work less than students on longer-term courses.
In other words, the statistical overview indicates that the very high percentages of students undertaking gainful employment which was shown in the University of Copenhagen survey, would probably be somewhat less had it been a national survey including all kinds of higher education students.
The results from the statistical overview survey on user satisfaction among all support recipients (See appendix C) indicates that this might be the case. 75 per cent of those replying to this survey, answered that they had gainful employment in 1996, and 25 per cent that they did not have any gainful employment. The survey also shows that support recipients in the metropolitan area undertook gainful employment to a larger extent than support recipients outside this area.
Table 19. Grant recipients in higher education 1996 distributed
by income in 1996
in addition to the grants received
| Income 1996 in addition to grants received 1) |
Total grant recipients 2) | Grant recipients, who received grants 12 months3) |
||
| ----- DKK ----- | --- Persons--- | Pct. | --- Persons --- | Pct. |
| 0- 9.999 10.000-19.999 20.000-29.999 30.000-39.999 40.000-49.999 50.000 or over |
26.474 13.014 13.805 14.443 14.909 60.875 |
18,4 9,1 9,6 10,1 10,4 42,4 |
23.154 10.827 11.170 10.529 9.815 18.994 |
27,4 12,8 13,2 12,5 11,6 22,5 |
| 143.520 | 100,0 | 84.489 | 100,0 | |
1) Includes income prior to enrolment and after graduation in 1996
2)
Students who received grants one month or more in 19963)
Grant recipients enrolled for a minimum of 6 months in Jan.-Sept. 1996 plus Oct. 1996.Source: SUstyrelsen
The above table shows, that there is a wide variation in the students’ income in addition to the grants received. 18 per cent of all grant recipients had an income below DKK 10.000, and 42 per cent earned more than DKK 50.000, mainly because income after graduation is included.
If we look at the grant recipients who received grant 12 months in 1996, i.e. 59 per cent of the total number of grant recipients in higher education this year, 27 per cent had an income below DKK 10.000 and approx. 78 per cent had an income below the lowest free amount (DKK 55.000). The remaining approx. 22 per cent had an income corresponding to the lowest free amount or more.
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