The municipal group Junts per la Seu has presented a motion at the ordinary plenary session of the La Seu d’Urgell City Council, urging the Generalitat Government to significantly improve the APA (Agency for the Management of University and Research Grants) grants for students from mountain regions who must travel outside their territory to pursue higher education.
This initiative addresses the reality faced by hundreds of young people from La Seu d’Urgell and the Alt Pirineu region, where the limited availability of university and vocational training courses forces many students to relocate to other cities. This entails substantially higher costs for housing, transportation, and living expenses compared to those residing in university towns.
Currently, APA grants have a maximum amount of 2,000 euros per year, a sum that Junts per la Seu considers outdated given the rising cost of living. Therefore, the motion proposes increasing this maximum to 4,000 euros annually starting from the 2026-2027 academic year, aiming to make them a tool for compensating territorial disadvantage.
“"Young people from the Alt Pirineu should not have fewer educational opportunities simply because they were born far from a university. Equality of opportunity requires compensating for the additional costs of living in a mountain territory."
The spokesperson for Junts per la Seu, Jordi Fàbrega, highlighted that an annual grant of 2,000 euros amounts to just over 160 euros per month, a figure far removed from the actual costs of housing and mobility for students from the Pyrenean region.
The proposal also calls for these grants to be universal for all students meeting the established territorial requirements. Furthermore, it urges that this financial support model be extended to students pursuing higher vocational training in the regions of Alt Pirineu i Aran, Berguedà, Garrotxa, Ripollès, and Solsonès.
“"When we talk about territorial equity, we must also think about vocational training students. Many young people from the Pyrenees face the exact same issues as university students and have to bear the same additional expenses."
Fàbrega concludes that Catalonia needs policies that recognize the uniqueness of mountain territories and that no young person should have to forgo their desired studies due to economic reasons related to where they live.
