Slovenia has built one of Europe’s stronger higher education systems, and higher education in Slovenia plays a direct role in the country’s fight against poverty. Roughly half of all Slovenians between the ages of 19 and 24 are enrolled in tertiary education, and most never see a tuition bill. Undergraduate study at public universities is free for Slovenian and EU students who attend full-time, and about 74% of all students paid no tuition fees in the 2024/2025 academic year. That investment has paid off in rising attainment: 43.1% of Slovenians aged 25 to 34 now hold a tertiary degree, up from 31.3% in 2015 and just short of the European Union average of 44.2%. Last year, 16,629 students completed a tertiary degree in the country, 3.2% more than the year before, continuing a decade-long climb in the share of young adults with a university education.

The Costs of Higher Education in Slovenia

Free tuition, however, does not guarantee equal opportunity. Students from low-income families, rural areas and other underrepresented groups often struggle to cover the costs that surround the classroom rather than the classroom itself: housing, food, transportation and books. Monthly living costs for students in Slovenia typically run between €500 and €800, with dormitory rooms costing €120 to €200 a month and private shared apartments running €250 to €350 per person, expenses that weigh most heavily on students who cannot rely on family support and that can push young people from poorer or rural households to skip university altogether.

The gap shows up starkly in outcomes. Among Slovenians whose parents hold a tertiary degree, 74% go on to earn one themselves. Among those whose parents did not finish upper secondary school, only 16% do, one of the widest such gaps that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) tracked. That 58-percentage-point divide illustrates how a family’s financial and educational background, not a student’s ability, can still decide who reaches a university classroom in Slovenia.

Scholarship Programs

To narrow that gap, the Slovenian government funds several scholarship programs aimed at the students who need help the most. Need-based state scholarships, reserved for students from financially disadvantaged families, reached 46.7% of full-time undergraduate students and 24.3% of master’s students in the 2021/2022 academic year, making them the most widely used form of student aid in the country. Merit-based Zois scholarships support high-achieving students regardless of income, and the Public Scholarship, Development, Disability and Maintenance Fund separately awards roughly 1,000 new scholarships each year to students training for occupations facing labor shortages, worth €118.48 a month, with total recipients numbering 2,890 as of the end of 2023. Together, these programs are designed so that a student’s financial background does not determine whether they can finish a degree.

The Erasmus+ Program

Slovenia is also working to modernize its higher education system through participation in the Erasmus+ program, which lets students study at universities across Europe, build professional skills and connect with international peers. Almost 5,000 Slovenian students took part in Erasmus+ exchanges in 2023 alone, a 50% increase over 2019, and more than 31,000 Slovenian students have studied abroad through the program over the past decade. These placements help prepare graduates for an increasingly international job market while bringing new teaching methods and fresh ideas back into Slovenian classrooms.

The Slovenian Human Resources Development and Scholarship Fund

Nonprofit organizations reinforce this work. The Slovenian Human Resources Development and Scholarship Fund, the country’s central scholarship body, runs multiple programs that fund undergraduate, graduate and doctoral study for both Slovenian citizens and international students, in some cases covering tuition and living costs for recipients who could not otherwise afford them. The fund also finances researcher mobility and support for lifelong learning, helping students and workers continue building skills well beyond a single degree.

Looking Ahead

A college degree remains one of the most reliable paths out of poverty and into long-term economic security. Slovenian tertiary graduates face an unemployment rate of just 3.5%, compared with 11.4% for those who did not complete upper secondary school, and graduates typically earn more and change jobs less often than their less-educated peers. By continuing to fund scholarships, expand exchange programs like Erasmus+ and invest in partners like the Slovenian Human Resources Development and Scholarship Fund, Slovenia is working to make sure that a student’s family income says less about their future than their own effort does.

– Rachel Ma

Rachel is based in Florham Park, NJ, USA and focuses on Technology and Solutions for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr