50 to 25 and 25 to 50 euros per month. Regardless of how much the figures change, the complement of the Murcia region to the Erasmus scholarships is the lowest in Spain, according to the VI edition of the Erasmus+ Scholarship Cofinance Observatory erasmus+ prepared by Erasmus Student Network (ESN): “The monthly amount of the scholarship of the Murcia region remains the lowest of all of Spain”, denounces the text.
In 2024 this aid had a total budget of 418,400 euros by the Murcian government. This year the figure was reduced by half, with accounts that fell to 219,150 euros and reduced the monthly amount for students abroad to 25 euros. This week, instead the endowment for Erasmus scholarships has recovered the previous figure, 419,000 euros, and, therefore, return 50 euros a month to the pockets of Murcian students.
“We have returned to the starting point,” summarizes the socialist Eurodiput Marcos Ros. The Socialists presented a motion at the Regional Assembly on Tuesday demanding a rise in aid and an improvement of the concession system. That same afternoon, the community approved to fold the budget and return to the figures of 2024. “The motion was recorded on September 21, last 2024. As far as we know, the counselor quoted last Monday to the representatives of the universities. That is, after the data was published and that we were denouncing it several times from the Socialist Party of the Region of Murcia,” explains Miguel Ortega. Socialist parliamentary in the Regional Assembly and Secretary General of Socialist Youth.
The increase in accounts crystallized in an agreement between the regional government and public universities. “We go out with very good feelings of the meeting. From the beginning [el director general de Universidades y el consejero de Universidades] They wanted to meet with us and negotiate, ”celebrates Lucía Serna, president of the Student Council of the University of Murcia (CEUM). Although Serna is glad that a dialogue has been opened, he advances that more meetings are necessary:” The climb does not seem enough to us and we want to continue negotiating, “acknowledges the president of the CEUM.
“We have remained that both the Ministry and the Universities will collect data to be able to present a firm proposal. We want to raise a scholarship system based on different thresholds, which adjusts as much as possible to the needs that students really have with respect to the amount,” says Serna.
“With 50 euros per month in another country, what does a student do a university in the region? Nothing,” says Ortega. “It doesn’t even give for coffee,” he says. “In the end we are talking about 80 cents a day. I would ask the regional government what a person can do with that money. Someone who comes from a family without resources, with 50 euros a month, probably cannot do anything,” Ros reflects.
Elitist help
For Caridad Alarcón (21 years), vice president of internationalization and social responsibility of the CEUM and scholarship in Eramus practices in Brussels, the regional complement would mean “a meal”: “Here the transport card is 52 euros per month, I would not give me even to pay my displacements here.” For the young woman, the 25 euros per month that correspond to her this year “are a shame.” “In the end, Erasmus scholarships become an elitist aid, for those who can count on their parents’ financial support,” he denounces.
“Here you can spend about 40 euros for weekly purchase. The complement would give me for four eggplants, two zucchini and an onion and a cardboard of milk,” List Alarcón lists.
These numbers, regardless of how much they range, contrast with those of Andalusia, the leading community in financing of the Erasmus+ program in Spain. The Andalusians have a budget of 12.15 million euros in 2025, and each student correspond between 263 and 105 euros per month of base aid complement and between 210 and 79 euros per month of special help complement. “In Andalusia you reach 900 [entre ayuda nacional y regional]which has to be our goal, ”says Ortega.
Help, after returning from Erasmus
Another problem presented by the Erasmus+ scholarship complement in the Region of Murcia is when it is charged. And, students often perceive the amount provided by the autonomous community once they return from the experience: “If you want to leave Erasmus you have to have the money previously,” laments Sofia, which studied scholarship in Porto in 2022-2023. The young woman was in the Erasmus program from February to June and did not receive the regional complement until November. For her, the almost 300 euros she received from the community were a “surprise”: “When I returned I did not expect them to pay me, it was a joy.”
“The scholarships are paid once the stay is over. In the best case as of September, when the stay has ended in July. We ask that they are managed and paid before, at the beginning of the stay,” demands the socialist deputy. “In my case I would receive 100 euros at the end of the experience. They will not give me almost anything,” Alarcón points out.
“I do not understand the disparity between communities, nor the difference between countries. He had companions from Germany who, compared to me, received a barbarity of Erasmus scholarship, especially if we take into account that, in general, their salaries are higher than ours,” reflects Sofia.
Social elevator
The amount received is also the same for all, does not take into account the final destination of the student or his socioeconomic situation. “Help must cover the most vulnerable people. In the end this [Erasmus] It has to be a social elevator that allows students to leave the region. Many studies show that people who leave Erasmus have more employability, ”recalls the president of the CEUM.
“[El acuerdo] The system does not change to receive more money who needs it most and that Erasmus scholarships also allow vulnerable families to send their children abroad. Tampo modify the amount by destiny. It is not the same to go to Berlin, to Rome than to Bucharest. Therefore, we need a mechanism that will weigh the amount to receive based on destiny, ”summarizes Ortega.
This newspaper has tried to contact the Murcian Ministry of Environment, Universities, Research and Mar Menor without obtaining an answer.
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