EUR 66 million to be made available for Latvian students as study loans with support of EU program

RIGA - With the support of the European Union (EU) InvestEU program, up to EUR 66 million will be available for study loans for Latvian students in the period from 2026 to 2029, Development Finance Institution Altum (Altum) informed LETA.

The European Investment Fund (EIF) and Altum have signed a new agreement which will see the initiative provide up to EUR 66 million in funding over the period with the support of InvestEU, thus supporting around 8,800 students.

In this framework, the EIF provides a counter-guarantee to Altum, which in turn guarantees student loans from banks. This cooperation gives banks the confidence to offer students loans with more favorable conditions, including an interest-free grace period and no collateral or co-borrower requirements. This helps to ensure that students' financial situation does not become a barrier to access to higher education.

This program is a follow-up to the first partnership launched in 2021 under the Skills and Education Guarantee pilot program under the European Fund for Strategic Investments. This pilot program has enabled almost 13,000 students and learners in Latvia to access loans with favorable conditions to cover their study and living costs, Altum said.

Reinis Berzins, Chairman of the Board of the institution, pointed out that Altum's cooperation with the EIF has already yielded significant results in helping students across Latvia to acquire higher education, regardless of their financial situation.

With the support of the EIF and the Latvian state budget, Altum has so far provided more than EUR 100 million in student and student loans across the country.

As reported, Altum made an audited profit of EUR 28.663 million last year, a 61.1 percent increase on 2023.

Development Finance Institution Altum is a Latvian state-owned company providing enterprises and households access to financial resources by means of support financial instruments - loans, guarantees, investments in venture capital funds - in areas defined as important and to be supported by the state.