StOF Board Grants

What is StOF?

If you experience study delays due to special circumstances, you may be eligible for financial compensation from the Student Support Fund (StOF).

Sometimes your studies get delayed because of circumstances beyond your control. For example, illness (including chronic illness), mental health issues, serious family circumstances, or a disability. However, spending a lot of time on board work or participating in top-level sports/cultural activities can also slow down your studies. In some cases, you may be eligible for financial support or compensation.

Whether you qualify for compensation depends on several factors:

• The reason (e.g., illness, board work)
• How long the situation lasted
• When it happened during your studies

FOBOS became StOF

The new StOF regulation will take effect on 1 September 2025 and replaces the FOBOS regulations. See the transition from FOBOS to StOF for paging section for more information about the old scheme.

If you take on a board year or participate in other forms of student engagement, this may delay your studies. In some cases, you can receive compensation through the StOF regulation.

What counts as board work?

• Board positions in associations (sports, culture, social, student teams, etc.)
• Participation in representative bodies, such as the University Council or UC-E
• Extra & Incidental (large committees and new initiatives)

The following overview lists exactly which boards and organizations are eligible for this:

How do the grants work?

• Each board receives a maximum number of grants (see board distribution of grants).
• The board itself decides which board members receive the grants.
• The board must submit a request for payment within 3 months after the board year ends.

The Committee on Personal Circumstances (CPO) reviews applications on behalf of the Executive Board. If you have questions, you can contact the portfolio holder Personal Development & Education of the Student Union or the CPO secretariat.

For more information, you can visit the website of the CPO: Student support fund (StOF) | SGW

A special arrangement applies to non-EU students in specific boards: they can make use of a waiver instead of board grants. This applies to boards in the study, participation and infrastructure sectors. If you have any questions about this, please contact the Student Union.

Extra & Incidental 

For the previous FOBOS category 5 Extra & Incidental grants, there will also be a new system in the StOF policy. 

There will be three categories: 

MUST 

• The few largest committees with the highest study delay that really need some compensation.  
• Only awarded when the workload per committee member is higher than 10 hours per week.  

OCCASION 

• Lustrum committees or other non-annual events that are not new initiatives. 
• Committees only qualify if their workload as a total is more than 5 hours per week per committee member. 

REST 

• Committees that are important and do spend a substantial amount of time on their tasks but aren’t as vital and large as the others. 

It is up to the umbrellas each year how it is determined which of the REST group will receive StOF grants. It is suggested to look at the hours per week per committee member, as this gives the best indication of the expected study delay. 

The same holds true for the OCCASION category. Umbrellas can determine in each case whether it should be ranked above all the REST committees or if it should be placed somewhere between them.

New initiatives

Deadline New Initiatives: 12th of June 2026

Within the Extra & Incidental group of StOF, there is also the possibility to request grants for new initiatives. New initiatives are new events, committees or associations that facilitate or organise something for students at the University of Twente (UT). The initiators/organisers of these new initiatives can request StOF grants for the work that they put into the new initiative. Their requests will be considered by the Centre for Educational Support (CES) in cooperation with the Student Union. In order to be eligible for the grants, the new initiative should have a workload of at least 4 or 5 hours a week per person and should be targeted at UT students. The new initiative should really be a new addition to the offer of activities that already exist at the University of Twente. The Student Union has the right to ask extra questions about the new initiative. The new initiative will also be assigned to one of the three E&I categories. You can apply for StOF grants for a new initiative through the following link:

What to do in case of disagreement on the division of the StOF grants within your boards? 

With the StOF system it will be up to the boards to divide the grants amongst the board members. This could possibly lead to disagreement within boards. There are a few steps you can follow in case of disagreement on the internal division of the StOF grants within a board. 

1. Discuss the problem with your supervisory/advisory board or previous board members. Their experience could help you come to a solution. 
2. When step one is not successful, the next step will be to discuss the problem with your umbrella or contact person. 
3. If the umbrella or contact person also cannot find a fitting solution, they can discuss the problem with the Student Union.  

Summary of the regulation

The information below is a summary. If you think you may be eligible, be sure to read the full regulation!