PUC Scholarship Rules 2025: Dismissal, 50% Repayment, Allowance

The 2025 PUC (Private Universities Council) scholarship regulation, Decision 206/2025, applies from the 2025/26 academic year. An accumulation of academic warnings now ends your internal scholarship, and being dismissed or withdrawing can leave you owing 50% of the fees the state paid. You also get one major change and two semesters to pass the language test.

What Decision 206/2025 is

The scanned regulation on the PUC registration portal is numbered 206, dated 3 August 2025; Al-Anba reported it as 220.

The Minister of Higher Education and PUC chair, Dr. Nader Al-Jallal, approved the regulation. It has 17 articles and governs internal scholarships at private universities from 2025/26.

Who can apply:

• Kuwaiti nationals aged 16–23 for high-school graduates (the PUC lowered the minimum from 17 to 16 in June 2026), or up to 27 for diploma holders.
• A secondary-school certificate no older than 26 months.
• Diploma holders need an academic diploma with at least 3.00. Training diplomas do not count.
• Not employed and not enrolled at another institution.
• The student, the guardian and a guarantor sign a financial and academic pledge.

According to mygust.com, the scholarship was previously open to children of Kuwaiti mothers too, and had no age limit.

What gets your scholarship cancelled

Reason	Result under the regulation
Accumulation of academic warnings	Dismissal from the scholarship
Breaking the scholarship conditions	Dismissal from the scholarship
Submitting incorrect documents	Dismissal; forged documents can mean final dismissal
Not completing registration	Scholarship cancelled
Cheating or disrupting order	Written warning, suspension for a semester or a year, or final dismissal

You may appeal a disciplinary decision within two months.

The 50% repayment

The regulation recovers 50% of the fees paid in cases of dismissal or withdrawal. You, your guardian or your guarantor owe the debt if you:

• withdraw after the first week of study or during a semester,
• skip registration at the start of a semester without prior approval,
• are academically dismissed for accumulated warnings,
• are dismissed for disciplinary reasons, or
• have the scholarship cancelled for breaking its rules.

mygust.com notes that a student who withdraws within the first week owes nothing.

Situation	Effect on the debt
Death, or a disability that prevents study	Fully waived
Re-joined the scholarship after dismissal and earned a bachelor's within 4 years	Fully waived
Earned a diploma within 3 years of dismissal or withdrawal	Waived for diploma scholarships; halved for bachelor's scholarships

You can ask to suspend the debt within one year of leaving if you prove you are still studying. Until the debt is settled, the PUC can withhold certificates and transcripts and block registration at any institution in or outside Kuwait.

Language, study load and major change

• Language: pass the language test within two semesters.
• Warnings: three consecutive academic warnings, or four separate ones, end the scholarship, following your university's dismissal procedure (Art. 10).
• Full-time study: you must study full time and may not withdraw or freeze without prior approval. Students with special needs can have their load cut to 6 credits.
• Major change (Art. 8): once, or at most twice if it involves moving to another private institution, with an academic acceptance into a major in the plan. Conditions: a GPA of at least 2.67 (3.00 for medical and engineering majors, which also need a science-track certificate), and 24 to 75 credits passed for a bachelor's (12 to 30 for a diploma), excluding language and foundation courses. Apply in the last two weeks of a semester at your university's admissions office; you pay any extra cost.
• What it pays: tuition and a book allowance (KD 100 per regular semester, KD 50 for summer). It does not cover late-registration fees or courses you withdraw from.

Getting the scholarship back after dismissal

The earlier rule, PUC decision 6/43-1/2011, allowed reinstatement once, within two years of dismissal. You needed at least 30 credits after dismissal with a cumulative GPA of 2.33 and a last-semester GPA of 2.00. mygust.com reports that the 2025 rules raised the GPA for those 30 self-funded credits to 2.5.

The monthly social allowance

The social allowance is separate from the scholarship. It goes to Kuwaiti students and children of Kuwaiti mothers at private universities, whether they are self-funded or on scholarship.

• Amount (reported): KD 200 a month for a single student and KD 350 for a married student. The PUC-published Ministerial Decision 221 (2011) sets KD 350 for a married student, and Al-Anba reported in 2012 that the single rate rose from KD 100 to KD 200. Confirm the current amount with your university.
• No GPA condition appears in the PUC-published decision.
• It stops if your enrollment is suspended, frozen, withdrawn or dismissed, if you register with social security (except a deceased parent's pension), if you receive aid from another state body, and when you graduate.
• How to apply: at your own university at the start of each semester. The PUC says registration runs for one month from the semester start, and universities set the exact window. GUST's window for Spring 2027 is 10–21 January 2027.
• First payment: if your papers are complete between the 1st and 15th of a month, payment starts that month. From the 16th, it starts the next month, with no back pay.

Protect your scholarship

Check your warning line and test next semester's grades in the GUST GPA calculator, or track every course in My grades.

Kullia is independent and not affiliated with the PUC or any university. Rules change, so confirm your own case with your university's scholarship office and the PUC.