Study grant

Student loans: this summer marks a turning point, with a boom in offers on the horizon

The reform introduced at the start of 2026, with a 70 per cent government guarantee, has revitalised the scheme: a wave of new developments is expected from the banks

by Marco Barlassina

21 July 2026

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Prestiti per borse di studio volte al successo degli studenti, destinate alle rette universitarie, per l'istruzione. (Adobe Stock)

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Summer 2026 will be the litmus test for the reform of the ‘Youth Credit Fund’ (Study Fund), launched at the start of the year. With university enrolment and the start of the academic year approaching, early indications suggest that the changes introduced by the measure have hit the mark, giving greater scope to a scheme – the student honour loan – which, until now, only 1 per cent of Italian university students have had access to.

The most significant change contained in the measure – namely the state guarantee covering 70 per cent of the principal amount of the loan – makes offering this type of financing far more attractive to credit institutions. As Annalisa Areni, Head of Client Strategies at UniCredit, confirms, ‘the reform can take student loans out of the niche market and transform them into a more structural tool for investment in human capital. The strengthening of the guarantee framework allows intermediaries to support a wider client base, even in the absence of traditional forms of personal guarantee, whilst maintaining a responsible approach to lending’.

Available tools

The regulatory changes have also meant that financial institutions have had to amend their products to bring them into line with the provisions of the interministerial decree of 17 November 2025, prompting numerous banks to plan, according to Il Sole 24 Ore, to launch a new generation of products in the coming weeks, which will complement those already available.

The first to take steps in this direction was Banco Bpm , which launched its new ‘Student Loan’ just last week. Among those updating their offering is the Cassa Centrale Group, which has signed an agreement with Consap and secured the participation of interested affiliated banks (the group comprises 65 cooperative credit banks, rural banks and Raiffeisenkassen).

Staying with the cooperative credit sector, the Bcc Iccrea Group had already signed a memorandum of understanding with Consap by the end of 2025 to capitalise on the opportunities offered by the new fund and encourage widespread participation by the group’s 111 Bccs.

Bper, which already offers guaranteed loan schemes for students at certain universities in Milan, is instead preparing the procedures to reactivate the state fund guarantee – an initiative it had already joined in 2022. Others may follow suit. “Between now and the end of summer, we expect around 60 new products,” explain representatives from Habacus, the service provider and intermediary to which Consap has entrusted the task of certifying students’ eligibility for approval of the Study Fund Guarantee.

Closing the gap

The market for student loanstherefore appears to be at a turning point, putting Italia in a position to narrow the gap with other European countries, where the use of this instrument is well established. And this is despite the fact that these countries often have higher education costs, as in the case of the UK, where, to avoid over-indebtedness “repayment of the principal only begins once one’s salary has exceeded a certain threshold”, explains Francesco Armillei, a researcher and one of the authors of a study on student loans produced by the Tortuga think tank.

By contrast, in Italia, the lower average costs of training and the phased roll-out drastically reduce the risk of debt becoming unsustainable.