Regional Scholarships (DSU)

The largest — and least known — pillar of student support in Italy is the regional DSU scholarship (“Diritto allo Studio Universitario”). These grants come not from central government but from the agency of the region where you’ll study, and they are independent of the MAECI scholarship — meet the conditions and you can hold both at once. What counts is your family’s income far more than your grades, and because most students coming from Turkey fall below the income threshold, the success rate is surprisingly high.

Which Agency Covers Which Region?

Application windows vary by region but broadly run July to September, and in most years they close before lectures begin. You can apply without waiting for your admission letter; final enrolment is completed later.

Money and Housing

The amount is tiered by your status — living at home, in halls, or away from the city — and in recent years has sat in the €5,200–7,500 a year band for students arriving from abroad. In most regions the grant comes with a canteen card and discounted or free student housing. The first instalment is usually paid in December — again, budget for the first few months yourself.

The Document That Decides It: the ISEE Parificato

At the heart of a DSU application is the ISEE Parificato — the calculation that translates your family’s income into the Italian system. It is drawn up by a CAF office in Italy, which will ask for: income documents for everyone in the household (social security statement, payslips or tax certificate), property and vehicle records, bank balances, and the full civil registry extract (tam vukuatlı nüfus kayıt örneği). Every one of these must be apostilled and carry a sworn Italian translation — and this is almost always where DSU applications go wrong: one missing balance letter or an unapostilled registry extract sinks the calculation, and with it the grant.

Use our checklist to assemble the set correctly in one go; translating the income pack as a batch also brings the per-page cost down. See the price here.