The Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development has announced an increase in the allocation for the University Student Support Fund to JD 40 million, with an additional JD 10 million allocated in implementation of Royal directives.
اضافة اعلان
The increase is expected to raise the number of beneficiaries to around 63,000 students, alongside the adoption of a new mechanism for distributing grants and loans among the Kingdom’s districts, effective from the 2026–2027 academic year.
Director of the Ministry’s Student Support Fund Unit, Muhannad Al-Khatib, told the Jordan News Agency (Petra) that the government increased the fund’s allocation by JD 10 million from revenues generated by the sale of distinctive vehicle license plates, in implementation of Royal directives.
This brings the fund’s allocation to JD 40 million, compared with JD 20 million two years ago.
The government had previously increased the fund’s allocation in the 2025 budget by 50%, from JD 20 million to JD 30 million. The increase allows approximately 10,000 additional students to benefit from the program, bringing the expected total to around 63,000 students, compared with the previous annual average of 53,000.
He noted that the decision follows a Royal directive issued on January 12, 2026, calling for an additional JD 5 million to be allocated to the fund, as part of continued government efforts over the past two years to increase its funding and diversify its resources.
Al-Khatib added that the number of students nominated to receive support through domestic grants and loans for the 2025–2026 academic year increased from 53,132 to 60,341 students, an increase of more than 7,000 students.
The ministry later nominated an additional 4,500 students to replace applicants who declined to complete the procedures for obtaining loans, bringing the total number of nominees to 64,841 students. As a result, the percentage of eligible applicants receiving grants and loans increased from 78% to 84%.
He confirmed that loans made available as a result of applicants withdrawing were redirected to districts where support had not covered all eligible applicants.
Al-Khatib said the University Student Support Fund is one of Jordan’s most significant achievements in supporting higher education, stressing that the government places student support among its top priorities.
He explained that since its establishment in 2004 through the end of 2025, the fund has provided full and partial grants as well as loans to more than 747,430 students, at a total cost of JD 687,458,263.
These beneficiaries included 36,356 students who received full grants at a cost of approximately JD 110.94 million, 272,121 students who received partial grants at a cost of around JD 232.31 million, and 438,953 students who benefited from loans costing approximately JD 344.21 million. Loan beneficiaries represented the largest share, accounting for 58.7% of the total.
Regarding recent developments, Al-Khatib pointed to a Cabinet decision in July 2025 to allocate revenues from all distinctive vehicle license plates sold through public auctions to support the fund.
He also noted the Cabinet’s approval in December 2025 to allocate JD 10 million to cover the tuition fees of eligible students and enable them to register for the second semester of the 2025–2026 academic year.
Regarding the fund’s accumulated financial obligations, Al-Khatib said outstanding debts owed to public universities had previously reached approximately JD 80 million, due to the expansion of the number of beneficiaries without sufficient financial allocations in previous years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The outstanding amount has since fallen to around JD 14 million, which is expected to be fully repaid before the end of 2026.
He explained that the previous mechanism, which was based on equal distribution among districts, resulted in disparities in coverage rates. In some districts, coverage reached 100%, while in other densely populated districts it did not exceed approximately 50%.
He confirmed that the new system, scheduled to take effect from the 2026–2027 academic year, will combine an equal basic allocation for each district with distribution of the remaining funds according to demand and population density.
Under the new system, each district will receive an annual basic allocation of 550 partial grants and loans, comprising 250 loans and 150 partial grants for bachelor’s degree students, in addition to 150 partial grants for intermediate diploma students.
He stressed that the amendment does not affect the eligibility requirements for receiving support from the fund or the established selection criteria and points.
Instead, it is limited to the mechanism for distributing the number of grants and loans among districts.
Population density, he explained, will not serve as a criterion for awarding additional points to individual students.
Rather, it will be used to determine the amount of support allocated to each district after the eligibility requirements have been applied.
