The moment people hear about studying in Europe, the first thing that comes to mind is the fee — lakhs of rupees, every year. And this is exactly where many capable young people quietly bury their plans. What almost nobody back home knows about Italy is that at Italy’s public universities the fee is set according to your family’s income. In the lowest income band it comes down to almost zero.
This is not a scholarship, not a special concession, not a matter of connections. This is Italy’s ordinary law and it applies to foreign students in the same way as it applies to Italian students. The income of a Pakistani, Indian or Bangladeshi household comes out low on the European scale in any case — and that is the point this whole article turns on.
But hear one hard truth first. Cheap study does not mean an easy visa. For applicants from South Asia, refusal of the Italian study visa is common, and the reasons for refusal are usually two: weak proof of funds, and a study plan the applicant himself cannot explain. Having the fee waived does not solve either of these problems.
ISEE — the one document everything rests on
Italy has an official measure for assessing a family’s economic situation: ISEE. It includes the household’s annual income, property, bank balance and the number of people in the household, and it produces a number. The university looks at this number to set your fee band. The lower the number, the lower the fee.
For a foreign student the same thing is called ISEE Parificato — the same calculation, but based on income and property held abroad. This document is prepared in Italy by the financial advice offices called CAF, and these exist in every city. Often this service is free or costs a very small fee.
For it you have to take some papers with you from your own country: details of the household members, an official statement of your parents’ income, and the position on property. These papers usually need attestation by the Italian embassy or consulate in Islamabad, Delhi or Dhaka, and a certified translation into Italian as well.
This stage is exhausting, it takes a few weeks, and for that reason many students drop it and then pay the full fee. The plain truth is that this one document is the real work that makes studying in Italy cheap. Everything else comes after it.
DSU — from here it is no longer just “cheap”
Now the main thing. Every region of Italy has its own body that gives grants under the “right to study”, that is diritto allo studio. It has different names in different areas — ERDIS in Marche and Emilia-Romagna, DiSCo in Lazio, that is Rome, DSU in Lombardy, and so on for each region. People generally call them all DSU.
This grant is not just a fee waiver. If it is approved, it usually includes all of this:
- the university fee waived in full
- hall accommodation, free or at a very low rent
- free or subsidised food in the university mensa (canteen)
- a cash amount once a year, which is different for those who take housing and those who do not
Foreign students are eligible for it. The decision rests on two things: your ISEE number (that is, need) and your academic performance (that is, completing the required credits in the required time). In the first year need alone is the basis; after that, each year it is looked at whether you passed your exams or not.
A warning is needed here. The application dates are strict, generally between July and September, and they are published on the regional body’s own website — the university does not remind you separately. Every year many students miss out simply because the date passed. And a second point: in some regions the funding is limited, so not everyone gets the money even when eligible. Eligibility and payment are two different things.
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How admission works — and what Universitaly is
In Italy the official route for foreign students’ admission goes through a single portal: universitaly.it. Here you select the course of your choice and do the pre-enrolment, and this same application reaches the consulate. The visa application is built on it afterwards.
Alongside this there is another body, cimea.it, which issues a statement recognising your previous degree in terms of the Italian system (a Statement of Comparability). Many universities now ask for it.
Mentioning both is necessary because you can do this work yourself, sitting in your own room, without any agent. The official application fee is either nothing at all or a few euros.
Which universities to look at
Italy’s public universities are old, large and recognised around the world. A few big names:
- Università di Bologna — Europe’s oldest university, in almost every field
- Politecnico di Milano — engineering, architecture and design
- Politecnico di Torino — engineering, several programmes in English
- Sapienza Università di Roma — Rome’s largest university
- Università di Padova — strong in science and medicine
- Università degli Studi di Milano
- Università di Pisa
- Università di Trento and Università di Bari — relatively small cities, lower cost, good facilities
A practical piece of advice: the big name is not always the best choice. Housing in Milan and Rome is expensive and hall places fall short. In cities like Perugia, Bologna, Padova, Bari or Catania the same degree, of the same standard, is done at half the cost — and the chances of getting DSU housing are higher too.
Language — the decision that sets the direction of your whole future
At master’s level, especially in engineering, computer science, economics and management, there are hundreds of programmes in Italy taught entirely in English. For these an IELTS or a similar exam is usually enough. At bachelor’s level there are very few English programmes; most teaching is in Italian and B2 level language is asked for.
Now the plain truth. You can take a degree in English, but in Italy a job is found in Italian. Part-time work, a tenancy agreement, the doctor, the municipal office, renewing the permit at the police station — all of this happens in Italian. The student who starts working on the language as soon as he arrives is still standing in that country three years later. The one who does not takes his degree and comes back, and cannot understand where he fell short. The shortfall was in the language.
An idea of the costs
These figures are approximate and change a great deal from city to city. Do check the current figures yourself before applying.
| Item | Small city (monthly) | Milan / Rome (monthly) |
|---|---|---|
| Rent for a shared room | about €200–300 | about €450–700 |
| Food and groceries | about €150–200 | about €200–250 |
| Transport (student pass) | about €15–25 | about €22–35 |
| Health insurance / SSN registration | about €150–160 a year | |
| Mobile, books, miscellaneous | about €40–70 | about €50–90 |
If you get the DSU grant, both the housing and the food lines almost disappear, and this is the difference that makes Italy the cheapest real route into Western Europe.
For the visa the consulate separately asks for proof of financial resources — somewhere around €6,000 to €7,000 for one year, which is reviewed every year. This money can be shown in your account, your parents’ account or a guarantor’s, but on the condition that the money has a history. Money arriving in the account a week before the application creates suspicion, and this is the most common reason for refusal.
Working during your studies
An Italian study permit allows work: about 20 hours a week, and about 1,040 hours in total over the year. Restaurants, cafés, delivery, shops, and small jobs inside the university are the common sources.
This money helps you get by, but let one thing be clear: this income is not a substitute for the full fee and the full expenses. The student who goes on the assumption that “I will earn once I get there” usually either leaves his studies behind or loses the next year’s grant when the credits are not completed. And not completing credits also affects the renewal of the permit.
What happens after the degree
This is the part of Italy that is talked about least but is the most valuable. After completing your degree you can take a temporary permission to look for a job, which is called permesso per attesa occupazione. Its length and conditions have changed over time, so do ask your police headquarters (Questura) for the current details.
And more important still: once you find a job, the study permit can be converted into a work permit, and this conversion falls outside the annual Decreto Flussi quota. An ordinary foreigner has to wait for that same quota to get an Italian work visa; it opens once a year and fills up in minutes. A student who has studied in Italy never stands in that queue at all.
Because of this one point alone, the study visa is the strongest legal route into Italy — stronger even than the work visa.
Scams — repeated every year
Lakhs in the name of an admission fee. You can submit the application on Universitaly yourself. An agent asking for eight, ten or fifteen lakh rupees for the same work is selling a free government form. There is nothing wrong with taking advice, but look at the ratio between the price and the work.
Fake admission letters. The consulate catches a letter made up in a university’s name with one phone call, because the application is verified through Universitaly in any case. The result is not only a refusal, but a record of fraud.
Doctored bank statements. Borrowing money from someone, parking it for a week and attaching the statement — this is the most common “trick” and also the most dangerous. If you are caught, a ban of several years for Schengen can be imposed, which closes the door not just to Italy but to the whole of Europe.
Taking admission only for the visa. Some people enrol in any course, arrive, and then never go to class. The result is straightforward: zero credits, permit renewal refused, and a person who came legally but is now without papers. In Italy the way out of irregular status is not as easy as in Spain. Closing with your own hand the door you found open is the most expensive mistake of all.
A worked example
Suppose a student does a master’s in Padova, gets an ISEE Parificato made, and his number falls in the lowest band. The fee is almost waived, and the hall and the mensa come from DSU. What remains as real expenses for him is transport, mobile, books and personal needs. Now if the same student went to Milan and did not have the ISEE made, the difference in rent alone would be thousands of euros a year.
This is a made-up example, not a real person’s accounts — but it shows that in Italy the real decision is not about the name of the university, it is about the city and the paperwork.
The first step today
- Go to Universitaly and look at the programmes in your field, and note the language (Italian or English).
- Be sure to keep the universities of two or three smaller cities on your list, not only Milan and Rome.
- Open the website of the DSU/ERDIS/DiSCo body for the region you choose and write down this year’s application date.
- Start collecting your parents’ income and property papers now — the ISEE Parificato will be built on them.
- For the proof of funds, keep the money in the account months in advance, not weeks in advance.
The fees, thresholds and conditions given above are approximate and in Italy they change every academic year — especially the ISEE bands and the amount of the DSU grant. Before applying, verify the current figures and dates yourself with the relevant university, your region’s right-to-study body and the Italian consulate in your city. This piece is guidance, not a guarantee of any admission or visa.
