Today the government presented the budget bill for 2026. There has been concern within the student movement that the budget would mean cuts to student union funding. Now this fear has come true. The government is moving forward with the cuts. But the budget also contains other changes that affect students and higher education.
Here are the most important changes in the 2026 state budget:
- The allocation to student unions is reduced from 55 to 35 million SEK.
- The compensation amounts for several areas of education will be increased slightly:
- Higher HPR for Humanities, Social Sciences, Theology and Law.
- Higher HST for Natural Sciences, Technology, Pharmaceuticals.
- Higher HST and HPR for Music.
- The ceilings for basic and advanced level education will decrease by an average of 0,7 percent.
- Reduced food VAT could amount to an extra 172 kronor per month for the average student, which is quite a bit considering how many billions the investment costs.
In this blog post, we describe how the government's budget proposal will affect students in 2026.
Cutbacks affect student unions
The government is cutting funding for student unions, from SEK 55 million this year to SEK 35 million in 2026. This will have very negative consequences for student unions and make their work with education monitoring more difficult.
The reduction is not explicitly stated in the budget, so you have to look in the right place. The state grant to the student unions is included with several other expenses under the state budget appropriation 2:67. In the state budget, this is stated as a lump sum and it is only through the regulation letter in December when the money is distributed to various appropriation items.
However, we can read in the state budget that the allocation will decrease from 80,980 thousand kronor this year to 50,980 thousand kronor next year. 10 million kronor will disappear due to a temporary expense for the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in 2025. The remaining 20 million kronor in cuts relates to student influence.
This should in all likelihood be interpreted as support for student influence returning to 2020 levels, namely 34,774 thousand SEK.
However, between 2020 and 2025, inflation has eaten up about 20 percent of the value of the money. In 2020, 34,774 thousand kronor was enough for an activity that today would cost 43,283 thousand kronor. The student unions have never had such low funding as the government is now deciding!
In addition, the number of students has increased, which means that the compensation per student is even lower. Calculated in constant prices, the estimate was about SEK 150 per HKD in 2020, SEK 170 per HKD in 2025, and falls to SEK 100 per HKD 2026!
In 2028, another reduction of 2:67 is evident, however, it does not relate to student influence but is due to a temporary grant that expires to the Paideia Foundation – The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden.
It is not clear whether there will be changes to the contribution to SFS.
Enumeration and erosion of appropriations
Every year, the funds are eroded in the form of a productivity deduction, i.e. a cut that is made with reference to the fact that higher education institutions should become more efficient and reduce their personnel costs each year. By 2026, the productivity deduction is estimated at 1,13 percent of the higher education institutions' personnel costs.
At the same time, the appropriations are increased to keep pace with the general price increases in salaries, premises and other costs. However, since salary costs are also reduced through the productivity deduction, the price increases are not fully compensated. In practice, there is a reduction.
All compensation amounts are increased by a higher education index of 1,84 percent. The total cost increase depends on the balance between salaries, rents and other expenses, but the cost increases can be estimated at approximately 2,6 percent. The difference between the price increase and the actual increase corresponds to approximately 200 million out of a total of 27,7 billion in ceiling amounts.
These constant cuts are not sustainable. Last year, higher education institutions lost 1,1 billion kronor. It was the third year in a row that higher education institutions made a negative result. Educational activities are making more of a deficit than research. This will force further savings, which is of course negative for the quality of education.
Change in compensation amount
However, there are some areas of education where the government is implementing extra increases. The compensation amount for Humanistic, social science, theological and legal training area by SEK 1050 per HPR. This corresponds to approximately 1,6 percent of the total compensation amounts for these training courses (HST+HPR). The increase is therefore somewhat greater than the erosion for this training area this year.
Within Scientific, technical, pharmaceutical In the education sector, the benefits are increased by SEK 1040 per HST, which corresponds to approximately 0,8 percent of the benefits (HST+HPR). This increase is therefore lower than the erosion.
Furthermore, an increase is proposed in the area of education. Music, with 24,000 SEK per HST and 11,000 SEK per HPR to create opportunities to improve the quality of education.
It is also clear that the government will decide that a number of higher education institutions will start new public administration courses with an EU focus. However, it is not clear whether this is a budget issue or just a governance issue. SFS is in any case critical of politicians making decisions about such specific courses. Decisions about the dimensioning of the courses should be made by the higher education institutions themselves in dialogue with students and the surrounding society.
The ceiling amounts
The increases in the compensation per student are taking place within the existing framework. The ceiling amounts do not change. This means that the effect can look like two things. Either the higher education institutions increase their overproduction: they continue to educate the same number of students as before and receive the same funding as before. Or the higher education institution reduces the number of students and can still reach the same total amount as before. In the case of music education, it is indeed mentioned that the number of students is explicitly decreasing, but this should probably be understood as a consequence rather than something that the government makes a direct decision about.
Although the best thing would of course be to allocate money so that more students could get a better education, SFS actually has nothing against this type of solution. The universities must of course have a dialogue with the student unions about which of the alternatives they should choose. If it is currently not possible to maintain a reasonable quality of the education, it is better to maintain the resources with fewer students.
At the same time, the ceiling amounts will decrease by a total of approximately 0,7 percent for the state universities. However, the change will affect different institutions differently. The ceiling amounts for Linköping University, Luleå University of Technology and Blekinge University of Technology will increase slightly. Other ceiling amounts will decrease by between 0,3 and 2 percent.
Study funds and student finances
The government is not presenting any major reforms related to student loans, but the budget still contains several proposals that affect students' finances in various ways.
The transition study support continues to expand at the planned pace, and costs will increase from SEK 4,9 billion to SEK 7,3 billion next year.
In the autumn budget bill, the government is proposing to make it easier for Ukrainians who are in Sweden with temporary protection under the Mass Migration Directive to study with student support, something that was announced announced in June and now it looks like it's becoming a reality.
The government proposes to reduce the higher level of the study grant, which can currently be applied for by those studying at primary or secondary school level at municipal adult education or folk high school, or supplementary pedagogical education (KPU). The savings correspond to SEK 200 million in 2026. This is called “– Further streamlining of the higher grant”, which shows that streamlining only means cuts. However, most of the savings affect students in forms of education other than higher education.
Lowering food VAT affects students
Furthermore, a reduction in food VAT is proposed, from 12 to 6 percent from April 1, 2026. Students spend an average of approximately 2,857 SEK per month on food (Income and expenses of university students in 2020 adjusted for inflation). If the entire reduction is passed on to the consumer, it would correspond to SEK 171 per month. However, there is a risk that stores will not fully lower prices. A more effective measure for students would have been to simply increase the student grant by 171 kronor.
Monthly review of housing allowance
There is also a budget line relating to the planned introduction of monthly reviews of housing allowance. SFS estimates that it will have a positive impact on many students. The budget otherwise does not include any investments in student housing.
General increase in study funds
The study allowance is indexed and will follow the price trend in society through the price base amount that is adjusted every year. This means that the levels for loan+grant will increase from SEK 13,500 to SEK 13,592 for four weeks of studies. However, this change is not actually decided in the budget, but in principle happens automatically.
Research funds
The government proposes increased research funding in accordance with the research bill from 2024.
Authorities affected
The allocation to the University Chancellor's Office (UKÄ) will be reduced by approximately SEK 11 million (to a total of SEK 166 million), due to previously decided cuts. In previous years, the government has focused on increasing efficiency within the state administration and has assessed that UKÄ has the ability to carry out its tasks with slightly reduced resources.
The allocation to the Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR) is increasing by SEK 88 million for the purpose of the authority developing and running the new citizenship test in Swedish and social studies. This is an increase of almost 40 percent of the authority's allocation.
The allocation to the Central Student Financial Aid Board (CSN) is reduced from SEK 1,204,748 to SEK 1,163,526 thousand, i.e. a decrease of approximately SEK 41 million.
Other planned changes
In the budget bill, the government reiterates plans to appoint an inquiry to review the governance and financing of higher education. The inquiry will develop proposals on how to:
“The educational offerings of higher education institutions can be more effectively directed towards a high-quality educational offering that is relevant to society's and the labor market's needs for future competence, while at the same time providing good opportunities for education and safeguarding the autonomy and discretion of higher education institutions. The inquiry will also submit proposals that can improve monitoring and control of government capital.”
SFS has previously been positive about the government appointing an investigation into the university's resource allocation system. However, there is not much time left in the mandate period and it is unlikely that a reform can be implemented before the 2026 election.
The government also announces that there will be an investment in targeted resources for a number of higher education institutions and intends to present proposals for a special compensation model for universities and colleges regarding training for professionals with a focus on transition and further education. SFS, like most in the higher education sector, has expressed himself negatively to the proposed model.
Finally, the bill states that the government will continue to work with teacher education inquiry and that proposals will be presented in the upcoming budget bill. Exactly what it will be remains to be seen in the spring amending budget in April 2026.