Erasmus funds for students cleared at last minute

ByAlan Osborn. It was a tight call but the money came through in the end and students signed up for the European Union’s (EU) Erasmus student exchange programme will get funding after all next year.
The Erasmus cash had been caught up in a budget deadlock lasting months and the issue was only resolved this week, when the European Parliament rubber-stamped a deal agreed a few days earlier by EU ministers. Among other things the agreed deal on the EU budget for next year released a €90 million (US$118 million) special corrective sum for Erasmus. At one point it had seemed likely that Erasmus would be forced to cut students’ grants from early in 2013.
"The agreement means that the commission can now transfer necessary funds to the national agencies which are responsible for running Erasmus in the member states. The agencies will then release funds to beneficiaries of the programme, including the home universities and colleges which pay the monthly grants to students," said the European Commission. Read more...