Khaberni - Mohannad Al-Khatib, advisor to the Minister of Higher Education and director of the Unified Admissions Coordination Unit, confirmed on Monday that the criteria for obtaining university grants and loans for the academic year 2025-20226 mainly depend on academic excellence and national aid.
Al-Khatib said through "Al-Mamlaka" that "students who benefited from national aid were nominated to receive grants and loans, while the remaining beneficiaries are determined based on competition for points."
The number of students nominated to benefit from university grants and loans this year rose to 60,341 students, with an increase of 7,000 beneficiaries compared to the previous year.
He added that each district of the kingdom has a share in partial diploma grants and another share in loans, creating competition among students, so that those with the highest points get grants, followed by those who receive loans.
He confirmed that if a student does not get nominated for a grant or loan, they can enter the Directorate of Scholarships website using the national number to review their data and calculated points, and find out where the grant or loan stops in their area.
Al-Khatib noted that students who benefited from national aid constituted 75% of the total beneficiaries of the grants, while 25% obtained loans, adding that about 48,000 students received grants and loans as a result of academic excellence, where the academic excellence criterion was a minimum of 300 points.
He explained that the number of students benefiting from the National Aid Fund was 11,918 students, where each student whose family receives national aid got 400 points within the points system adopted to classify students benefiting from the university student support fund.
He indicated that all students benefiting from the National Aid Fund were covered by the grants and loans by 100%, as were all students benefiting from the Royal Grant for the children of teachers who had not benefited from it previously, by 100%.
Al-Khatib confirmed that students can view the details of their nominations through the Scholarships Directorate website, and know their ranking in their district, enhancing transparency and allowing students to accurately follow the results of the nominations for grants and loans.
He referred to the increase in allocations owing to several steps, the first being an increase in the budget of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research from 20 million dinars to 30 million dinars, followed by a cabinet decision to allocate the revenues from selling all distinctive numbers sold at public auction through the Drivers and Vehicles Licensing Administration, which provided 5 million dinars for the student support fund.
Al-Khatib added that the royal directives during His Majesty the King's patronage of launching the government's executive program for the years 2026-2029 also contributed to increasing the fund's allocations by an additional 5 million dinars, bringing the total allocations to 40 million dinars, which enabled the ministry to expand the group of benefiting students.
