Italy DSU Merit Rules: The Credits That Keep Your Grant
Income gets you in. Credits keep you in. Every call sets a minimum number of exam credits (CFU) by fixed dates, and missing the final one means repaying everything — meals and room included.
ScholarshipUnion Editorial
3 min read
Updated Oct 6, 2026
First year: income now, merit later
New students are ranked on economic condition only. The merit check comes afterwards, at two dates: 10 August of the following year (to unlock the rest of the grant) and 30 November (to avoid revocation). The 2026/27 thresholds:
| Body | To get the balance | If you miss 10 August |
|---|---|---|
| DiSCo Lazio | 20 CFU by 10 Aug 2027 | 20 CFU by 30 Nov 2027: grant cut by 50%. Otherwise revoked and repaid |
| ER.GO | Credits per course table by 28 Feb and 10 Aug 2027 | Credits by 30 Nov 2027 keep instalments 1–2; otherwise repay |
| EDISU Piemonte | 20 CFU by 31 May or 10 Aug 2027 | 30 Nov 2027 check; fail and repay the first instalment plus €2,700 room charge |
| Politecnico di Milano | 35 CFU (Engineering, Architecture) or 40 (Design) by 10 Aug 2027 | Lose the second instalment (meals stop 1 Sep 2027); keep instalment 1 if the CFU arrive by 30 Nov 2027, otherwise revoked and repaid |
| Padova | 20 CFU by 10 Aug 2027 | Keep instalment 1 only if 20 CFU by 30 Nov; else repay all, incl. services |
| DSU Toscana | 20 CFU (bachelor’s), 15 (master’s) by 10 Aug 2027 | Lose the second 50%; services end 1 Sep 2027 |
Sources: DiSCo art. 41, ER.GO arts. 8–9, EDISU step-by-step, PoliMi art. 4, Padova art. 6, Tuscany art. 5.
Padova’s call is explicit: revocation means returning the whole grant, the regional tax and the value of the room and meals you used. DiSCo sets the repayment deadline at 31 December of the year the revocation is notified.
What counts as a credit
Credits must be recorded by your university’s registry (verbalizzati) by the deadline, from exams that count toward your degree. DiSCo checks automatically with the university. Credits from recognising previous studies abroad generally do not count for first-year merit; EDISU excludes credits validated from a foreign career. If an exam result is late being recorded, chase the department before 10 August, not after.
Plan your first semester around this. A typical Italian first year is 60 CFU; 20 is a third of that. Pick exams you can realistically pass in the January–February and June–July sessions, and do not leave them all to September.
Later years: merit decides the ranking
Eligibility →From the second year, you must already have a minimum number of credits by 10 August before the year you apply for. DiSCo’s 2026/27 table:
| Year applying for | Bachelor’s | Single-cycle | Two-year master’s |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd | 25 | 25 | 30 |
| 3rd | 80 | 80 | – |
| 4th | – | 135 | – |
| 5th | – | 190 | – |
| Extra semester | 135 | 245 | 80 |
Padova’s thresholds are lower for a three-year bachelor’s (20 credits for year 2, 64 for year 3) but the logic is the same. In Lombardy, later-year rankings are built on merit points: PoliMi gives up to 600 of 1,000 points for credits above the minimum.
The bonus credits
If you fall slightly short in a later year, most calls let you use a one-time bonus: 5 credits if first used for the second year, 12 for the third year (or during a master’s), 15 after that (DiSCo, PoliMi). Unused bonus carries over. The bonus cannot be used for the first-year minimum in DiSCo, ER.GO’s February check, or Tuscany’s August check.
Extensions for serious events
DiSCo can extend the first-year deadline by three months for documented bereavement, hospital stays of ten days or more, serious illness, violence, the birth of a child or natural disasters. International students must attach official documents translated into Italian or English and legalised or apostilled. Ask before 30 November, not after.