"We haven't received our scholarships since October. They haven't given us any information either." In the past month, this was the concern of many students at the University of Medicine in Tirana, signaling delays in the distribution of scholarships and economic aid for the 2025-2026 academic year.
From the field verifications and the evidence collected, it results that for months, the beneficiary students have not received the payments they are due.
"We waited and waited until January and nothing. Now March was coming to an end and we still hadn't received any payment," a student at the Faculty of Medicine told "Faktoje".
decision
According to the decision of the Council of Ministers No. 903, dated 21.12.2016, updated in 2019, financial scholarships are awarded to students in public institutions of higher education who have high academic results (average grade 9 to 10), follow priority programs or belong to social strata in need.
The decision stipulates that the scholarship is paid monthly to the beneficiary student's bank account, at the rate of 10,000 lek per month, and starts from the moment of registration at the beginning of the academic year or from the month following the fulfillment of the criteria.
The funds are transferred from the Ministry of Education and Sports to universities, which carry out the distribution after verifying the relevant documentation.
However, this prediction contrasts with the testimonies of students, who report non-payment for several months in a row.
A third-year Pharmacy student says that delays in scholarship distribution are common, but this year they have been longer. “Usually, the distribution starts in January and the amount for several months is given together, until the entire payment is completed at the end of the year,” she says.
Problems
Meanwhile, a student at the Faculty of Medical and Technical Sciences, a beneficiary of economic aid, says she has not received any payment for several months. “I am on economic aid and I still have not received anything for the school year,” she says, adding, “We who are on economic aid cannot make ends meet with what we receive, to be honest.”
Other students say the situation this year has exceeded normal expectations. “We have complained, but if they don’t come by the end of March, we have to react. They have crossed every limit this year,” says a first-year student in the General Medicine department.
Only since the first week of April, after several months of delays, some students confirm that they have received part of their overdue payments.
A first-year student says that on April 7, 2026, she was transferred an amount of 60,000 new leks, which corresponds to 6 months' worth of payments carried forward together.
Meanwhile, economic aid is also reported to have begun to be partially distributed during this period, with one student beneficiary reporting that she received 48,000 lek.
"I know how it's supposed to work, but last year I received economic assistance every two months, not every month from the old 100 thousand lek," she adds.
In addition to delays in payments, students graduating in 2025 also report delays in receiving their diplomas, without receiving detailed explanations on procedural or administrative reasons.
Lack of response
To clarify the situation, Faktoje has addressed the University of Medicine in Tirana with a request for information regarding the delays in the distribution of scholarships and economic assistance, funds and relevant procedures. As of the time of publication of this article, the university has not responded./faktoje.al/
