Free textbooks

You are entitled to free mandatory textbooks for the needs of full-time schooling in primary and secondary schools and full-time or part-time education at higher education institutions

Mandatory textbooks are textbooks indicated in the Final List of Selected Textbooks published by the Ministry of Science and Education. The Ministry of Science and Education determines the maximum prices of textbook sets according to the Final List.

Requirements

The requirements and procedure for exercising the right are stipulated by the Ordinance on the Manner of Exercising the Right to Free Textbooks for Croatian Homeland War Veterans and their Family Members (OG 80/18), pursuant to Article 125 of the Act on Croatian Homeland War Veterans and their Family Members (OG 21/17, 98/19).

You are entitled to free compulsory textbooks if you are:

• the child of a deceased or missing Croatian veteran
• a disabled Croatian Homeland War veteran  
• a Croatian veteran
• the child of a disabled Croatian Homeland War veteran
• the child of a Croatian veteran who participated in defending the sovereignty of the Republic of Croatia for at least 100 days in the combat sector.

You are entitled to free compulsory textbooks if you do not exercise this right under other regulations and if the regular income per member of your household is less than 264,86 EUR, or less than the amount of the threshold (60 percent of the budget base). 

The amount of income does not matter if you are:

• the child of a deceased Croatian veteran without parental care or without both parents (regardless of the circumstances of the death of the other parent)
• the child of a missing Croatian Homeland War veteran without parental care or without both parents (regardless of the circumstances of the death of the other parent)
• the child of a deceased Croatian Homeland War veteran without parental care or without both parents 
• and if you submit the application for exercising the right within the stipulated period and meet other stipulated requirements. 

The amount of financial benefit

You exercise this right in the form of a financial benefit.

The amounts of financial benefits are different:

• for regular secondary school students the benefit corresponds to the amount on the original invoice for purchased mandatory textbooks (only the amounts referring to the prices of mandatory textbooks from the Final List for the class and department of the school in which the primary and secondary school student is enrolled are taken into consideration from the enclosed invoice) 
• if you do not submit an invoice for the purchased mandatory textbooks, the financial benefit amounts to 70 percent of the maximum price of the set of mandatory textbooks according to the Final List
• the amount of the benefit for university and college students is the amount of the maximum price of a set of mandatory textbooks uniform for all grades of all secondary schools, increased by 20 percent. 

Submitting an application

You should submit the application for recognition of the right to free textbooks to the administrative authority in your county or to the City Office for Veterans in Zagreb, depending on the place of residence, by using the stipulated form which is available in the competent administrative authority of the county, i.e. the City of Zagreb.
 
The application for recognition of the right to free mandatory textbooks for secondary school students should be submitted in the period from 1 July to 1 November of the current school year.
 
The application for recognition of the right to free mandatory textbooks for university and college students should be submitted in the period from 1 January to 30 April of the current academic year.