The Greek Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs, and Sports has officially opened the digital platform for the student housing allowance, providing financial relief for eligible university students and their families for the 2025–2026 academic year. The application window runs from June 30 until Friday, July 31, 2026, targeting thousands of households currently navigating the high cost of urban rental markets.
The annual subsidy provides baseline support of €1,500 per student, which escalates to €2,500 for those cohabiting with peers in verified shared accommodation—a measure designed to incentivize density and reduce pressure on the limited city-center property stock. Applicants must submit their filings electronically via the dedicated portal (stegastiko.minedu.gov.gr) using their established personal TAXISnet credentials to verify income eligibility and lease records.
Geographic Boundaries and Co-living Thresholds
To qualify for the subsidy, the student must be a Greek citizen or a national of another European Union member state, hold a valid academic ID, and possess a domestic tax identification number (AFM). The foundational requirement is that the rental property must be located in a municipality within the specific regional unit of the university department, outside the student’s primary family residence.
The ministry applies precise spatial limitations to prevent the subsidy from inflating suburban commuter lines:
- Attica Perimeter: The entire prefecture of Attica is treated as a single urban zone, completely excluding its island territories and any peripheral cities situated more than 40 kilometers from central Athens.
- Thessaloniki Perimeter: The Thessaloniki urban complex is consolidated under a single municipal city definition, including any surrounding districts located within a strict 20-kilometer radius of the city center.
Furthermore, applicants or their parents must not hold full ownership or usufruct (epikarpia) rights to another residential asset within the specific regional unit where the university operates, focusing the state funds strictly on families with genuine regional housing costs.
Verification Mechanics and Cohabitation Bonuses
The administrative architecture of the program utilizes live data sharing with the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) to cross-reference academic registrations directly against declared lease agreements. Applications are filed by the primary individual claiming the student as a dependent on their tax returns, with verified criteria managing exceptions for independent adult students over the age of 25 or orphans.
The expansion of the allowance up to €2,500 highlights a clear policy direction to foster managed shared living arrangements among the university demographic. To unlock this higher tier, the cohabiting students must be registered at the same institution or department and be explicitly named on the lease framework submitted to the AADE digital ledger. By tying the financial bonus directly to multi-name contracts, the state aims to encourage student flat-sharing, effectively removing independent, single-occupant demand from the competitive central rental blocks of Athens and Thessaloniki.
