ISEE submission and required documentation

To apply you must hold a 2026 ISEE certificate for financial assistance with your university education. This certificate is based on household composition, income, and assets.

The ISEE 2026 certificate for financial assistance for university education must include the INPS reference number (e.g. INPS-ISEE-2026-XXXXXXXXX-00) and be signed by 5 pm on 4 November 2026.

Are NOT accepted:

• Ordinary ISEE certificates not applicable to subsidised university education schemes
• ISEE Equivalent certificates.

To obtain your ISEE certificate, you can contact the INPS, a CAF (Tax Assistance Centre), or your local council. Alternatively, you can use the pre-filled ISEE form, which can be requested from the INPS ISEE Single Portal website or via a CAF. 

For all information related to ISEE please consult the Guide to ISEE 2026.

Please note that it may take up to 15 days to obtain the new ISEE certificate required for financial assistance under the Right to University Education Scheme. Therefore, we advise you to apply for it well in advance.

International students whose families reside in Italy and whose families’ income and/or assets are held exclusively in Italy must submit their applications in the same way as Italian students.

With regard to the household:

1. Where the applicant lives with their parents, the ISEE calculation for university education grants is normally the same as the standard ISEE. In such cases, the ISEE certificate must specify that it applies to subsidised university education grants for the applicant in question.

2. If the applicant does not live with their parents, they are considered part of their parents' household unless both of the following conditions are met:

   a) has been living outside the family home for at least two years prior to the date of submission of the single substitute declaration, in accommodation not owned by any member of the family;

   b) the student’s income from employment or similar sources and/or self-employment, as declared for tax purposes for at least two years, must be no less than €9,000.00 per year.

   3. If the student is married, reference is made to the new household only if the residence require          ments (point a) and the threshold for adequate earning capacity (point b) are met. This takes into        account the income of the student’s spouse or cohabiting partner (Article 1, paragraph 36 of Law        76/2016), as registered with the local council of residence. For the assessment of the adequate          income capacity threshold, the income of the spouse or cohabiting partner from the two preced          ing years may be taken into account, even if the student was not married or in a registered de            facto partnership in the two years prior to marriage or cohabitation.

   4. The applicant student's parents are generally considered to be part of the same household,                even if they do not live together, with a few exceptions:

a) Spouses with different registered addresses shall be deemed to constitute separate households in the following cases: a) where a judicial separation has been granted, a consensual separation has been approved under Article 711 of the Code of Civil Procedure or a separation has been ordered under Article 126 of the Civil Code; b) where separate residence is permitted under the temporary and urgent measures referred to in Article 473-bis 22 of the Code of Civil Procedure; c) where one of the spouses has been deprived of parental authority over the children or has been subject to a measure ordering removal from the family home under Article 333 of the Civil Code; d) where one of the cases referred to in Article 3 of Law No. 898 of 1 December 1970, as amended, has arisen and an application has been made for the dissolution or termination of the marriage. civil effects of the marriage (divorce); e) where abandonment of the spouse has been established by a court or the relevant public authority responsible for social services; f) where one of the spouses is subject to protection measures relating to gender-based violence. This condition must be verifiable on the basis of a decision by the relevant authority.

Spouses who are separated or divorced are considered part of the same household if they continue to live in the same dwelling, even if they are authorised to reside there. They remain part of the same household even if they are registered in two separate household records and live in the same dwelling. Therefore, for separated or divorced spouses to constitute two separate households, they must either have two different residences, or the situation described in point (f) above must apply.

b) A parent who does not live with the family unit and is not married to the other parent is included in the child’s family unit as an associated member solely for the purposes of accessing these benefits unless one of the following applies: a) The parent is married to someone other than the other parent; b) The parent has children with someone other than the other parent; c) A court order has been issued requiring the payment of periodic maintenance for the children; d) Parental authority over the children has been revoked or a measure ordering removal from the family home has been adopted pursuant to Article 333 of the Civil Code; e) It has been established by a court or the competent public authority responsible for social services that there is no emotional or financial relationship. In cases a) and b), the ISEE is supplemented by an additional component calculated based on the non-cohabiting parent's financial situation, in accordance with the procedures set out in Annex 2, paragraph 2. This forms an integral part of Prime Ministerial Decree No. 159 of 5 December 2013.

5. For PhD students only, the household consists exclusively of the applicant, their spouse and any children under the age of 18, in accordance with paragraphs 2 to 5 of Article 3 of Prime Ministerial Decree No. 159 of 5 December 2013. In this case, the ISEE is calculated based on the so-called 'restricted household' and reported in a specific section of the ISEE certificate.

This does not affect the right of PhD programme applicants to define their household in accordance with the standard rules set out in Article 3 of Prime Ministerial Decree No. 159 of 5 December 2013. In such cases, reference is made to the standard ISEE stated in the certificate.

Current ISEE

You can submit your application online using your current ISEE, which is based on the ISEE 2026 certificate for university education grants. Before requesting your ISEE calculation, you must have signed the ISEE 2026 certificate for university education grants.

In general, the ISEE is based on income and assets from the second calendar year prior to the Dichiarazione Sostitutiva Unica (DSU), which is the main document needed to obtain the ISEE.

In certain exceptional circumstances involving significant changes in income or assets, or following adverse events such as job loss or cessation of social security, welfare or compensation payments, the income and assets recorded may not accurately reflect the household’s financial situation. 

If there is a change in employment status, a cessation of benefits for one of the household members, or a change in the household’s total income by more than 25%, it is possible to calculate the current ISEE. 

This indicator is based on income over the last twelve months (or just the last two months in certain cases, such as when a household member has experienced an interruption in payments that are not included in total income for IRPEF purposes, or when a permanent employee has suffered a loss, suspension or reduction in working hours). In the event of a reduction in total household assets of more than 20% compared to the assets identified in the standard ISEE calculation, it is possible to calculate a current ISEE based on assets held on 31 December of the preceding year, with effect from 1 April of each year.

To apply for the current ISEE you must:

1. be in possession of a valid ISEE;
2. fall into one of the categories listed below (A, B, C, D).

Variation D can be used instead of variations A, B or C, or alongside them.

For the purposes of the current ISEE application, changes A, B and C must have occurred after 1 January of the reference year used to calculate the standard ISEE that is to be replaced (for example, for DSU applications submitted in 2025, the changes must have occurred after 1 January 2023).

The changes taken into account for the current ISEE application are as follows:

A) Permanent employment and/or exempt benefits:

- an employee on a permanent contract whose employment has been terminated or whose hours have been reduced.

- a person who has found employment as a permanent employee during the validity period of a current ISEE;

- a person whose social security, welfare and compensation benefits, which are not included in total income for IRPEF purposes, have been suspended;

- a person who has commenced receiving social security, welfare and compensation benefits not included in total income for IRPEF purposes during the period of validity of a current ISEE. 

B) Fixed-term or self-employed work:

An employee on a fixed-term contract or under flexible contractual arrangements who is not employed on the date of submission of the DSU because the employment relationship has ended. They must also be able to demonstrate that they were employed in the aforementioned forms for at least 120 days in the twelve months preceding the end of their last employment relationship.

A person who has found employment as a fixed-term employee or under flexible contractual arrangements during the period of validity of a current ISEE.

- a self-employed person who is not employed on the date of submission of the DSU and who has ceased business activities after carrying them out continuously for at least 12 months;

- a person who has started their own business during the period of validity of a current ISEE as a self-employed person.

C) Significant changes in total income: an increase or decrease in the household’s total income of more than 25%, compared to the income figure used in the standard ISEE calculation.

 D) Significant changes in total assets: a change in the household’s total assets of more than 20%, calculated by comparing the value recorded as at 31 December of the previous year with the value identified in the standard ISEE calculation (two years prior), may be taken into account from 1 April of each year. 

Therefore:

• From 1 January to 31 March each year, it is only possible to update income for the purposes of the current ISEE, not assets.
• From 1 April each year, it will be possible to update either assets or income, or both at the same time.

Provided only income details are updated, the current ISEE remains valid for six months from the date of submission of the DSU (Form MS). However, if there are changes to employment status or benefit receipt, the current ISEE must be updated within two months of the change. 

If only the assets component is updated, or if both the assets and income components are updated, the current ISEE remains valid until 31 December of the year in which the DSU (Form MS) is submitted. However, if there are changes in employment status or in the receipt of benefits during the period of validity of the current ISEE, in which the income component has also been updated or is the only component updated, the current ISEE must be updated within two months of the change.

ISEE with notes

If your ISEE certificate contains any notes when you apply for ER.GO benefits, you must contact INPS, the CAF (Tax Assistance Centre) or your local council again. You will need to sign a new DSU that is complete and correct, and does not contain any omissions or discrepancies. Alternatively, you can download the pre-filled ISEE form yourself from the INPS website. 

Once you have obtained a valid ISEE, you must notify ER.GO by completing the 'ECONOMIC DATA' section again and ensuring that you include the INPS reference number relating to the ISEE without any omissions. Failure to submit the ISEE by the deadline indicated in the confirmation email sent upon completion of your online application will result in proceedings being initiated to revoke your eligibility for benefits. You will then be required to provide appropriate documentation regarding the omissions/discrepancies identified by the deadline stated, failing which you will be deemed ineligible.

For more information about the ISEE, please refer to the ISEE 2026 Guide for details on how to access university study grants in Emilia-Romagna for the 2026/27 academic year.

To be eligible for financial support for the 2026–27 academic year, if you are a student with income or assets abroad, you must submit complete, translated and legalised documentation regarding your financial and asset situation abroad for the year 2025, and upload it via your USER DOSSIER on the ER. GO by 5 pm on 4 November 2026.

For information on how to have international documents translated and legalised, please visit the Foreign Office website.

The university and ER.GO reserve the right to ask you to submit original paper documents that you provided via the user dossier at any time during the academic year for verification purposes. 

Failure to provide the original paper documentation requested during an inspection, or providing only partial documentation, regardless of the reason (including force majeure), will result in the withdrawal of benefits. 

In particular, Italian certificates issued by an embassy or consulate of the country of origin in Italy, and legalised by the relevant local prefecture, may be subject to thorough checks by the competent authorities. Benefits may be suspended until these checks are completed should they certify a total absence of income. 

If you are a first-year student and you are asked to provide documentation to assess your eligibility for benefits, you should submit the same documentation that you used to obtain your entry visa for Italy. This documentation must demonstrate that you have sufficient financial means to support yourself during your planned study stay. 

The documents to be submitted are listed below.

Documents required from international students from countries outside the European Union.

International students from countries outside the European Union must provide documentation proving their financial and asset status. This must be issued by the relevant authorities in the jurisdiction where their income was generated and their assets are held. 

The documents must be translated into Italian and legalised by the relevant Italian diplomatic authorities for the relevant territory, or apostilled where required, in accordance with current legislation. 

In countries where it is particularly difficult to obtain certification from the local Italian embassy, the documentation can be replaced with a legalised Italian certificate issued by the embassy or consulate of the country of origin in Italy. 

For information on how to have international documents translated and legalised, please visit the Foreign Office website.

In any case the documentation must show:

(a) household composition: a certificate confirming the applicant’s household composition. The ISEE regulations governing university education grants set out the rules for determining the composition of the household.

Special circumstances

Family situation where only one parent is present:

     •    in the event of divorce: a divorce decree or court document is required if the separation is ongoing;

     •    in the event of death: a death certificate is required if this has not already been submitted to the University in previous academic years;

     •    the student has not been recognised by their father: the student’s birth certificate is required;

     •    one parent cannot be traced: a certificate of untraceability issued by the competent authorities is required;

     •    presence of a guardian in the family status certificate: the appointment document for the guardian issued by the competent authorities must be submitted;

If the student has lost both parents, death certificates for both must be submitted unless they have already been provided to the university in previous academic years.

Presence in the family status of adult married brothers/sisters: the marriage certificate must be submitted or the marital status of the brother/sister must be specified in the certificate of family composition;

If the family composition certificate includes married adult siblings, either a marriage certificate must be submitted or the marital status of the sibling must be specified on the certificate;

If you wish to include adult brothers or sisters who do not live with their family of origin in the family composition certificate, you must submit a certificate of residence for them, or this information may be specified in the certificate.

b) the activity exercised by each member of the household in 2025, including siblings/sisters of full age. In cases where some members do not engage in any activity, the non-employment or unemployment status and the amount of any unemployment or similar allowance received must be shown in the documentation;

c) the period during which each member carried out their work, specifying whether this was for a period of less than or more than six months in 2025;

d) the income earned in 2025: a certificate issued by the relevant tax authority stating the total gross income (including tax) received from employment or pensions by each adult household member during the 2025 calendar year.

Special circumstances:

If you do not have the above certificate, you may submit one of the following documents:    

• a certificate issued by your employer stating your salary for the 2025 calendar year (January to December), including tax;
• your most recent payslip for December 2025, provided it shows your total income for 2025;
• all 12 payslips for income received in 2025, if the total income is not shown on the last payslip.

e) Buildings: Each member of the household must provide certification for all buildings owned as at 31 December 2025, stating the floor area in square metres. 

Specifically: 

For residential property that you own, you must submit the title deed stating the floor area. In all other cases, such as tenancy agreements or use of the property free of charge, you must submit a specific declaration issued by the relevant authority certifying that no member of the household owns any property.

For other buildings, you must submit the relevant title deeds.

f) the amount of any outstanding mortgage on the residential property and/or other properties as of 31 December 2025;

g)  the value of the movable assets held by each household member as of 31 December 2025;

h) any documented disability or impairment the student may have.

The documentation must state the amounts in local currency. These will then be converted into euros using the average foreign exchange rate for 2025, as calculated by the Bank of Italy.

International students from countries outside the European Union who are classified as 'particularly poor' must provide a certificate from the Italian diplomatic mission in their country of origin confirming that their family does not have a high income or social status.
A list of these countries can be found in Table A in Annex 3.

Like Italian citizens, international students from outside the European Union may use self-certification to prove their status and personal characteristics, as well as facts that can be certified or attested to by Italian public or private bodies.

Provisions applicable to international students from both EU and non-EU countries.

International students whose family resides in Italy and derives income and/or holds assets exclusively in Italy must submit their application in the same way as Italian students. In cases involving mixed income and/or assets (some in Italy and some abroad), income and/or assets held abroad must be documented by 31 December 2026. Failure to do so will result in the student not being eligible for benefits. This applies to both EU and non-EU countries, even if the information is included in the single substitute declaration (DSU).

When applying, international students with dual nationality must choose one of their two nationalities. If one of these nationalities is Italian, Italian nationality takes precedence.

Please note that scholarships and remuneration received for paid student work must be declared for ISEE purposes under the 'tax-exempt income' category (section FC4 of form FC1 of the DSU). ER.GO will then deduct the amount of any scholarships and/or remuneration received by the student for paid work placements and declared as tax-exempt income from the ISEE value. This amount will then be converted to the corresponding parameter on the equivalence scale.

For example, a student who received a scholarship of €2,800 in 2024 and has an ISEE of €20,000 for 2026, as per the INPS certificate, with an equivalence scale parameter of 2.04, will have their ISEE recalculated to €18,627.45. This ISEE is valid for access to the scholarship for the 2026/27 academic year.
This is calculated as follows:
[20,000.00 – (2,800.00/2.04)] = 18,627.45

The following additional and corrective assessment criteria apply to the ISEE certificate for the purposes of granting the benefits referred to in this call for applications.
Foreign income and assets not included in the Single Substitute Declaration (DSU) will be taken into account when determining financial circumstances and will be assessed as follows:

(a) foreign income is valued on the basis of the average euro exchange rate for the reference year, as defined by a decree of the Minister of Finance.
(b) real estate located abroad as at 31 December 2025: This is only valued in the case of buildings, based on a standard value of €500 per square metre.
(c) movable assets: these are valued on the basis of the average euro exchange rate for the reference year, as defined by a decree of the Ministry of Finance.

To enable the necessary checks to be carried out, any foreign income and assets not included in the Single Substitute Tax Return (DSU) must be documented in accordance with the conditions set out in the preceding paragraphs. The same applies to foreign income and assets included in the DSU.
 

International students from a European Union country are treated the same as Italian citizens. This includes administrative simplification measures, meaning they can self-certify their income and assets by stating the following in their application: 

• The composition of the household
• Total income received from abroad in 2025
  Income is assessed on the basis of permanent exchange rates and expressed in euros.
• Assets held abroad as at 31 December 2025. Real estate is taken into account only if it is built, on the basis of a standard value of €500.00 per square metre. Movable assets are valued on the basis of permanent parities and expressed in euros.

The ISEE regulations set out the rules regarding university study grants and apply to the composition of the household (see 'Students with income and assets in Italy').

To enable the necessary checks to be carried out, all international students from EU countries must submit a family status certificate and documentation relating to their self-declared financial and asset circumstances by 31 December 2026. These documents must be translated into Italian and, where necessary, legalised or apostilled in accordance with current legislation. 

For information on how to have international documents translated and legalised, please visit the Foreign Office website at this address. 

The following provisions apply to international students from both EU and non-EU countries.

International students whose family resides in Italy and receives income and/or holds assets exclusively in Italy must submit their application in the same way as Italian students. In cases involving mixed income and/or assets (part in Italy and part abroad), income and/or assets held abroad must be documented by 31 December 2026. Failure to do so will result in the student not being eligible for benefits. This applies to both EU and non-EU countries, even if the information is included in the single substitute declaration (DSU).

International students with dual nationality must choose one of their two nationalities when applying. If one of the two nationalities is Italian, the Italian nationality takes precedence.

Please note that scholarships and remuneration received for paid student work must be declared for ISEE purposes under the 'tax-exempt income' category (section FC4 of form FC1 of the DSU). ER.GO will then deduct the amount of any scholarships and/or remuneration received by the student for paid work placements and declared as tax-exempt income from the ISEE value. This amount will then be converted to the corresponding parameter on the equivalence scale.

For example, a student who received a scholarship of €2,800 in 2024 and has an ISEE of €20,000 for 2026, as per the INPS certificate, with an equivalence scale parameter of 2.04, will have their ISEE recalculated to €18,627.45. This ISEE is valid for access to the scholarship for the 2026/27 academic year.
This is calculated as follows:
[20,000.00 – (2,800.00/2.04)] = 18,627.45

The following additional and corrective assessment criteria apply to the ISEE certificate for the purposes of granting the benefits referred to in this call for applications.
Foreign income and assets not included in the Single Substitute Declaration (DSU) will be taken into account when determining financial circumstances and will be assessed as follows:

a) foreign income: it is valued on the basis of the average euro exchange rate in the reference year, defined by decree of the Minister of Finance;
b) real estate assets located abroad held as of December 31, 2025: they are valued only in the case of buildings, based on the conventional value of 500 euros per square meter;
c) movable assets: they are valued on the basis of the average exchange rate of the euro in the reference year defined by decree of the Ministry of Finance.

To perform the necessary checks, foreign income and assets not included in the single replacement declaration (DSU) must be documented under the conditions indicated in the previous paragraphs. For the same reason, the foreign income and assets entered in the single substitute declaration (DSU) must also be documented under the same conditions.

International students recognised as stateless or holding international protection (with residence permit for political asylum or subsidiary protection) or holding residence permit for temporary or complementary protection (e.g. special protection, special cases) are exempt from submitting statements issued by Embassies or Consulates, since for the purposes of assessing economic status, only any income and assets held in Italy are taken into account, recorded in the same way as for Italian students.

These students must submit:

a) copy of the valid residence permit;
b) copy of the passport, identity card or other valid identification document;
c) ISEE 2026 attestation.

Students for whom the status recognition procedure is still underway and therefore do not appear to have the relevant residence permit are required to submit the documents referred to in letters a), b), c). The possible allocation of benefits is conditional on the recognition of status with the issuance of the relevant residence permit.

Students for whom the permit renewal procedure is underway and therefore do not appear to have the relevant residence permit are required to submit the documents referred to in letters a), b), c). The possible allocation of benefits is conditional on the recognition of status with the issuance of the relevant residence permit.

In the event of conversion of the residence permit referred to in this paragraph into a residence permit for a reason other than the original one, no longer in the field of international or complementary protection, the University and ER.GO reserve the right to assess the economic condition without applying the provisions on the reference family unit.