The general motion period is the period during which members of parliament may submit motions on all issues that the parliament can decide on, and this year it ran between 9 September and 7 October. During the general motion period, the four opposition parties, the Social Democrats, the Left Party, the Centre Party and the Green Party, also submit their budget proposals for 2026. These “shadow budgets” are a response to the budget bill that the government, together with the Sweden Democrats, presented at the end of September, which we have reviewed in a earlier blog post.
In this blog post, we review the opposition's shadow budgets with a focus on higher education within the spending area. 15 Study funds Inom 16 Education and university researchWe have excluded money invested in other forms of education and research.
Conclusion
The opposition parties follow almost the same pattern as last year: The Green Party invests the most in student funding and the Left Party invests the most in higher education and research. This is followed by a smaller investment from the Social Democrats. One difference compared to last year, however, is that the Center Party not only invests the least, but is now actively reducing funding for higher education compared to the budget of the Tidö parties.
The Left Party wants to increase the allocation to student unions to higher levels than today. The Green Party and the Social Democrats want to restore the allocation after government cutbackThe Center Party is the only opposition party that accepts the government's cut.
The Social Democrats
In their budget proposal, the Social Democrats are spending a total of SEK 120 million more on higher education than the government's budget. The largest part of this is resources to enable higher education institutions to offer more education places, to counteract cuts.
The state subsidy to the student unions is being restored by the Social Democrats contributing the 20 million kronor that the government has reduced the state subsidy with, to protect student influence.
The Central Student Support Board (CSN) will also receive increased funding of 30 million to strengthen the processing of transition study support.
Other initiatives proposed by the Social Democrats include investment support for the construction of youth and student housing, a trainee program for newly graduated students with the aim of helping them gain a foothold in the labor market, and free public transportation for full-time students up to the age of 24.
Vänsterpartiet
The Left Party is investing the most money in higher education of all opposition parties, a total of SEK 740 million more than the government's budget. The Left Party draws attention to the need to review the university's resource allocation system, and in the meantime is increasing the reimbursement amounts (price tags) for all educational areas by SEK 1,000 per full-year student, which represents an investment of SEK 320 million.
Funding area 2:67, which includes the student unions' state grants, is increased by SEK 30 million, a most welcome investment.
The study fund increases by 320 million kronor compared to the government's budget.
The Left Party is also strengthening the basic funding for research and introducing support for the construction of climate-smart student housing. Other investments in higher education are directed at the northern healthcare region through more training places in medical and nursing education and the write-off of study funds. The Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR) will receive 20 million kronor more in funding.
Center Party
The Centre Party is the only opposition party that spends less on higher education than the government does, with a total of SEK 229 million less in funding for higher education. This is because the Centre Party is increasing the productivity deduction.
The reduction applies to all higher education institutions and to the higher education authorities, the Swedish University of Science and Technology (UKÄ), the Swedish Higher Education Administration (UHR) and the Swedish National Council for Higher Education (CSN). Most of the appropriations are also intended to be reduced further in 2027 and 2028. Only appropriation area 2:64 Special expenses within universities and colleges is increased by SEK 97 million.
The Centre Party is the only opposition party to agree to the government's proposal to reduce student union funding by SEK 20 million next year. This is remarkable because the then Centre Party leader promised SFS member unions in February 2025 not to reduce funding and also supported indexing the funding.
It is proposed that the exemption limit be abolished for the loan portion of the study grant, which means that students can have higher incomes without it affecting the possibility of obtaining a student loan.
One positive piece of news is the proposal that students who are on part-time sick leave should be entitled to study grants and student loans on a part-time basis and that those who are taking longer courses, such as the medical program, should be entitled to study funds for longer than six years.
The Green Party
The Green Party is investing SEK 390 million more in higher education than the government. A large part of the investment is made by abolishing the productivity deduction, which means higher funding for all higher education institutions, totaling SEK 400 million. The Green Party highlights that the productivity deduction leads to fewer teacher-led hours.
SEK 20 million will be returned to student union funding to strengthen student influence and union activities.
The study grant will be increased by SEK 300 per month in an investment of SEK 1,200 million – the largest investment in study funding of all parties.
The Green Party also proposes introducing construction credits as government co-financing for new construction and renovation of rental and student housing.
CSN will receive a boost of SEK 36 million for handling the transition study support. UHR, on the other hand, will receive less money in the Green Party's shadow budget through a reduction of SEK 88 million.
Other proposals include a Sweden card for public transport, which means cheaper travel for students, among others.