To estimate your chances for a regional DSU scholarship in Italy, you need to calculate two indicators — ISEE (overall family financial position) and ISPE (asset position) — and compare them against the competition limits set by the chosen region.

In short

  • DSU isn’t a national scholarship — it’s regional: each region in Italy sets its own deadlines, documents, and support amounts.
  • Selection is based on the ISEE and ISPE indicators, which factor in the income and assets of the whole family, not citizenship or grades.
  • Independent student status is only granted if both conditions are met at once: 2 years living apart and income of at least €9,000 a year in each of the two preceding years.
  • Application windows are short and fall in summer: Tuscany accepted applications July 20 – September 7, Piedmont July 22 – September 4.
  • From the second year on, renewing the scholarship depends on academic progress — earning the required number of academic credits (credit formativi).

What a DSU scholarship is and how it differs from a regular scholarship

DSU is an umbrella term for Italy’s regional “right to education” scholarships: they help cover tuition and living costs, and selection is based primarily on the family’s financial situation. There is no single nationwide DSU scholarship — each region runs its own annual competition with its own deadlines, document list, and amount of support. Tuscany runs the process through one agency, Piedmont through an entirely different one, and the terms don’t overlap.

That’s exactly why DSU is worth a close look for international students: the assessment is built mainly around family income rather than citizenship or prior study history in Italy. Regional support makes it possible to study at an Italian university even for families that can’t fully cover the cost of education abroad — the deciding factor is the financial calculation, not the applicant’s track record.

What DSU is

DSU isn’t one scholarship — it’s a set of regional competitions across Italy, each with its own deadlines, documents, and amounts. Selection is based on family income, not citizenship or grades.

What a DSU support package includes

A DSU support package isn’t a single payment — it’s a bundle of several elements. Depending on the region and the student’s status, it can include a cash grant, meals in university canteens, a place in student housing, or help with renting on the private market. Separately, the package can cover reductions on university fees, which under some universities’ rules can go as far as a full tuition waiver.

A larger cash amount and free housing with meals are not the same offer, and you can’t compare them directly. If a student receives free housing and meals, the cash portion is lower — part of the support is already provided in kind. For example, in one past Tuscany region competition, the cash grant for students without a place in student housing exceeded €7,000 — but this figure is reviewed every year, and the current number needs to be checked in the new bando.

A larger cash amount and free housing with meals are not the same offer, and you can’t compare them directly.

So when comparing regions, don’t just compare one eye-catching figure — compare the whole package: the cash amount, the value of housing and meals, and the size of the fee reductions.

How ISEE and ISPE are calculated

The main mistake when estimating your own chances is looking only at the parents’ salary. DSU competitions use two indicators: ISEE and ISPE.

ISEE reflects the family’s overall financial position: income, a portion of assets, and family size. ISPE shows the asset position — real estate, bank accounts, and other holdings after the deductions set by law.

The limits for these indicators are set separately by each region, every year. For example, in one Piedmont competition, the ISEE limit was around €26,000 and the ISPE limit around €57,000; the exact thresholds are published in the region’s bando each year and can differ. For planning your application, use the most recently published competition terms for your region, not last year’s figures.

What goes into the ISEE formula

  • the family’s total gross income for the set reference year;
  • money in bank accounts and other financial assets;
  • the family’s real estate — not just the apartment the student lives in, but all property as a whole;
  • the number of people in the household;
  • deductions and coefficients set out in the rules.

The larger the household, the higher the coefficient the final figure is divided by. That’s why two families with the same income can end up with completely different coefficients — and therefore completely different ISEE figures.

People calculating this often forget to include accounts with little activity, shares in real estate, land, a garage, or property owned by the parents. Another common mistake is leaving a field blank when there’s no income or property to report — the absence of income or assets also has to be confirmed officially; a blank field is not accepted.

Student living separately from their family — illustrating independent student status for DSU
A blank field is an error

If there’s no income or property, that has to be confirmed officially with a separate document. Simply leaving a field blank in the ISEE calculation won’t work — the application won’t go through.

Worked example: a family of four and the Tuscany scholarship

Take a hypothetical family of four with a combined pre-tax income of 200,000 rubles a month and a 55 m² apartment they own — the student from this family is planning to enroll at the University of Pisa in the Tuscany region.

  1. Annual income. 200,000 rubles a month comes to 2,400,000 rubles a year. At a notional exchange rate of 100 rubles to the euro, that’s €24,000 in annual family income.
  2. Assessed value of the apartment. The calculation doesn’t use market value but an assessed housing value — in Tuscany, that’s €500 per square meter. For a 55 m² apartment, that works out to €27,500.
  3. Income indicator adjusted for assets. 20% of the apartment’s assessed value is added to the annual income, and the total is divided by the household coefficient — for a family of four, that’s 2.46. In this example, the result comes to around €12,000.
  4. Asset indicator on its own. The apartment’s assessed value is divided by the same coefficient of 2.46, giving around €11,200.

Both figures fall within Tuscany’s financial limits, and the result of around €12,000 lands in the most favorable bracket — up to €13,500. At that level, a student falls into the group that usually qualifies for the full range of support: a cash grant, free meals, a place in student housing if spots are available, and tuition fee reductions — though the final award is always decided by the competition committee.

The example shows that owning an apartment and having a family income of 200,000 rubles don’t rule out a scholarship on their own — what matters is the assessed, not market, value of the property and dividing it by the household coefficient.

How the ISEE indicator is calculated for a family of four

The calculation is based not on market housing value but on a share of the assessed price and the household coefficient.

  1. Convert monthly income to annual income€24,000200,000 rubles a month at a rate of 100 rubles/€
  2. Calculate the apartment’s value at the regional rate€27,50055 m² × €500/m² in Tuscany
  3. Add 20% of the apartment’s value to income and divide by the household coefficient≈ €12,000Coefficient for a household of 4 is 2.46
  4. Divide the apartment’s assessed value by the same coefficient≈ €11,200Asset indicator on its own

Can you be treated as an independent student

Turning 18 or living separately doesn’t by itself exempt you from having your parents’ income counted — the family’s financial data usually still goes into the ISEE and ISPE calculation. Under the rules of the current year’s competition, qualifying as an independent student required meeting two conditions at the same time: living apart from the family for at least two years, and having your own income of at least €9,000 in each of the two previous years. These conditions are reviewed every year, but the underlying logic stays the same — what matters is checking the rules in force at the time you apply.

Being registered at a different address isn’t enough on its own: without verified independent income over two years, independent student status won’t be granted, and the parents’ income will continue to be factored into the calculation.

Being registered at a different address isn’t enough on its own: without verified independent income over two years, independent student status won’t be granted

Student taking exams to keep a DSU scholarship for the next academic year

What documents you need and when to apply for DSU

An international family usually needs a set of official documents: household composition, the gross annual income of every adult member (or proof that there is none), funds in bank accounts and other financial assets, and real estate details — owner, size, and value, or confirmation that none exists. The wording of certificates and the certification procedures differ by region, so you can’t just copy a friend’s or acquaintance’s document list — translation and legalization requirements may apply depending on the specific region and the issuing country.

It’s worth starting to gather documents as early as spring: if it turns out in August that a certificate doesn’t cover the right period, doesn’t show the property size, or the bank issued the wrong figure, there will be almost no time left to fix it.

DSU application windows are short and usually fall in the summer, after you’ve received an offer from the university. This year, Tuscany accepted applications from July 20 to September 7, and Piedmont from July 22 to September 4. Next year the dates may shift — plan around summer 2027 and check the new official bando as soon as it’s published.

You don’t need to wait for a visa or final enrollment: in some regions, you can submit the scholarship application before admission is fully finalized, with university details confirmed later as part of the competition process.

Step-by-step by season

  1. Winter and spring — choose programs and submit applications to universities.
  2. Spring — gather financial certificates, translations, and certifications.
  3. Summer — open your region’s competition and submit your application strictly by the deadline.
  4. After results — complete the requirements for enrollment, housing, and supporting documents.

What to do and when when applying for DSU

Spread the preparation across the whole year — the competition windows are short and fall in summer.

  1. Choose programs and submit applications to universitiesWinter–spring
  2. Gather financial certificates, translations, and certificationsSpring
  3. Submit your application to your region’s competitionSummerTuscany: July 20 – September 7; Piedmont: July 22 – September 4
  4. Complete the requirements for enrollment and housingAfter results
Start in spring

Income certificates, translations, and legalization need to be prepared as early as spring: if it turns out in summer that a document doesn’t meet the regional requirements, there won’t be time left to fix it.

Documents needed to apply for DSU

How to keep the scholarship after your first year

In the first year, the decision to award support is almost entirely financial: the admissions committee looks at the family’s ISEE and ISPE, not a school transcript. But from then on, academic requirements kick in — you need to earn the required number of academic credits (credit formativi) on time, or the scholarship won’t be renewed. Starting from the second year, academic progress is checked right at the application stage, so the claim that “grades don’t matter” is only true for the first year.

the claim that “grades don’t matter” is only true for the first year

The money doesn’t arrive as a single lump sum but in installments, and the final payment or renewal of support for the next year depends directly on the student’s academic performance. So don’t plan your budget for the whole academic year as if the entire DSU amount will land in your account on day one — part of the payment is only released after the earned credits are confirmed.

The money comes in installments

Not all of the DSU amount is paid at the start of the year: the final payment and renewal for the next year depend on whether the student earned the required number of academic credits.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if the applicant has already been admitted but hasn’t received a visa or been officially enrolled yet — can they still apply for DSU

You don’t have to wait for a visa or final enrollment: in some regions, you can submit the DSU application before admission is fully finalized, with university details confirmed later during the competition process. That removes the deadlock of “you need to apply in summer, but enrollment isn’t finalized yet.”

What happens if a student doesn’t earn the required number of academic credits after the first year

If the required number of academic credits (credit formativi) isn’t earned on time, the scholarship won’t be renewed for the next year. From the second year on, academic progress is checked right at the application stage, so meeting the financial criteria alone isn’t enough to keep the support.