How to Apply for an Italy DSU Scholarship, Step by Step

The seven steps

1. 1
   Before the call opens

   Identify the body for your university

   DiSCo for Rome, ER.GO for Bologna, EDISU for Turin, DSU Toscana for Florence and Pisa; in Lombardy and Veneto, your university’s own DSU office. The university’s “diritto allo studio” page names it.
2. 2
   Months ahead

   Start the family documents

   Income, property, savings and family composition, legalised and translated. This is the slow part; see ISEE Parificato.
3. 3
   When the call opens

   Get login credentials

   Italian residents use SPID or an electronic ID card. International students without them get a temporary code: EDISU issues a “Codice Temporaneo d’Accesso”; DiSCo has international students register online and then be identified in person at an approved CAF.
4. 4
   Before the deadline

   Fill in and submit the online form

   Personal data, intended course, family situation, whether you want housing, and your status (in sede, pendolare, fuori sede). Submit even if you are not yet admitted or enrolled.
5. 5
   By the document deadline

   Deliver the ISEE parificato file

   To the approved CAF, the upload portal, or by post — whichever your call specifies.
6. 6
   Autumn

   Check rankings and appeal errors

   Read the provisional ranking line by line. Most bodies allow about a week to correct or appeal.
7. 7
   After winning

   Enrol, add your IBAN, keep earning credits

   Complete enrolment by the date in the call, register an account, and plan to pass enough exams to keep the grant.

Choosing your status: in sede, pendolare, fuori sede

Your grant amount depends on how far your home is from campus. Students whose family lives abroad are normally fuori sede (away from home), the highest category. In Lazio, internationals whose family lives at least 50% abroad get fuori-sede status automatically, with no rental contract needed. Elsewhere, you usually confirm it with a registered paid lease in the city of study:

• Lazio: a lease of at least ten months between 1 October 2026 and 30 September 2027, signed by 29 November and registered by 27 December 2026 — required for Italian-resident students, not for internationals with family abroad.
• PoliMi: fuori sede means a home more than 90 minutes away by public transport and paid accommodation near campus.
• EDISU: if you do not declare paid accommodation in time, you are paid at the lower commuter rate.

If you also ask for a residence room, you are ranked separately for housing, and the room’s cost is taken from your grant if you accept it.

Calls are built around Italian students, who enrol in September. International students often do not have a visa until August or September. The calls deal with this in two ways:

• You apply by the deadline as a prospective student, then complete enrolment later. DiSCo gave first-years until 10 February 2027; ER.GO set its own dates per university.
• EDISU now asks non-EU students to upload their type D study visa in the online form, or to tick “I have applied for the visa” and upload it by set dates (8 September for housing rankings; 19 October for grant rankings in 2026).

Getting paid

Every body pays by bank transfer to an account in your name. DiSCo accepts an Italian IBAN or one from a bank in the SEPA area; if you cannot open an Italian account, a SEPA foreign account is allowed, but DiSCo takes no responsibility for delays. DiSCo also requires the IBAN within six months of the award, or you lose the right to payment. Non-resident international students must give DiSCo a certified email (PEC) address or an Italian address for official notices.

After you submit

Keep the receipt or confirmation email. ER.GO and some other bodies require you to “perfect” the application with a PIN or PEC confirmation — an unconfirmed form is not valid. Read every message from the portal: blocks or inconsistencies (a missing document, a wrong ISEE type) must be cleared by the call’s regularisation date, or you are excluded even after being listed as a winner.