Single-parent families across Catalonia will receive discounts of between 50% and 100% on public university tuition fees from the 2026-27 academic year, including at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC).
The measure was approved by the Executive Council and is part of the budget agreement with the Comuns and the investiture agreement with ERC. The Catalan government has set aside €12.5 million for the policy, and parliament is expected to approve the accounts in July.
Under the new rules, families with one parent and two or more children will qualify for a full fee exemption. A single-parent family with one child will pay 50% of the tuition cost. Officials said the change responds to a long-standing demand and brings these families into line with other groups already eligible for similar support.
The policy extends the same exemptions currently available to large families, families where a parent or child has a recognised disability or an incapacity to work, victims of gender violence, and recipients of the minimum living income. It is intended to make access to higher education more equal across Catalonia.
For this measure, a single-parent family is defined as one adult with children under 21, or up to 25 if they are studying, who live with and are financially dependent on that adult. The families are split into general and special categories, with the special category covering households with one parent and two or more children, and also cases where the parent or one of the children has a recognised disability or an incapacity to work.
Government figures say there are 78,550 recognised single-parent family titles in Catalonia. For more Catalonia education and public policy updates, see our news coverage.