Student dormitories
If you are attending a secondary school outside of the place of your permanent residence, you can live in a student dormitory and take advantage of subsidised accommodation and meals
Student dormitories are educational institutions in the secondary education system which ensure temporary stay (accommodation and meals) for students during their secondary education within the education programme.Student dormitories are not equal to schools.
They have special work organisation and technology which is realised through different work programmes - basic, special and elective. The programming of work is based on the humanistic-developmental paradigm and individual needs and interests of students. The work programmes are a result of cooperation, mutual respect and support, open humanistic communication and respect of character. The education programme in the student dormitory serves as a support to students and parents in achieving the best overall development and education of a student, i.e., a young person.
This programme is carried out by teachers-educators and various experts, such as pedagogues, psychologists, health professionals and other, who are included in the work of a student dormitory if necessary.
Who has the right to stay in a student dormitory?
If you are attending secondary school outside of your place of permanent residence, you can stay in a student dormitory.The education, accommodation and meals services in the student dormitory are provided to full-time secondary school students in the Republic of Croatia who attend secondary school outside of their place of permanent residence and who are citizens of the Republic of Croatia, Croats from other countries, children of citizens from EU member states and foreign citizens from countries outside of the EU.
The student dormitory accepts students from other countries outside of the EU if they have a regulated residence status in accordance with the law governing the status of foreigners, with the approval of the dormitory founder.
Student dormitory vacancies can be claimed by students of higher education institutions who are Croatian citizens or Croats from other countries, only if they are listed on the priority list determined by the student centres, and by students of other schools, seminars and courses if this does not affect the educational work and life in the dormitory.
The student dormitory concludes an agreement on mutual rights and obligations with each student. The student dormitory can accept students from countries outside of the EU with the consent given by the Ministry of Education and Science.
Student dormitory vacancies can be claimed by students of higher education institutions who are Croatian citizens or Croats from other countries, only if they are listed on the priority list determined by the student centres, and by students of other schools, seminars and courses if this does not affect the educational work and life in the dormitory.
Admission to student dormitory
Every year in June, student dormitories publish the public call for the admission of students in the dormitory, in which they publicly state the number of available places and admission requirements for the following school year.The students can benefit from the student dormitory services while attending the secondary education programme provided that they are completing school years in a successful and timely manner, respect dormitory rules and abide by the provisions of the concluded agreement, which is decided upon by the educators’ council of the dormitory after a detailed expert analysis of behaviour and results of each student.
Students can be expelled from the dormitory during the school year in case of violation of dormitory and agreement rules, in accordance with the dormitory’s statute and provisions of the concluded agreement.
Admission criteria
If the number of students who apply for the accommodation in the dormitory is larger than a number of available places, the dormitory shall apply the following criteria in choosing the students:1. Right to direct admission is realised by the following student categories:
• students whose parents are deceased;
• students who enrolled in an education programme in a school that includes a dormitory;
• students pursuant to Article 126 of the Act on the Rights of Croatian War Veterans and Members of Their Families (Official Gazette, no. 121/2017); • children of Croatian war veterans who were killed, children of missing Croatian war veterans and children of disabled Croatian war veterans have the right to a direct admission to a student dormitory if the income per a household member does not exceed 60% of the tax base and if other conditions determined by special regulations on the conditions and manner of placing the students in dormitories are met.
In order to exercise the rights stated under this point, the student must prove their status with appropriate documentation from the competent authorities.
2. Number of points for the admission of other students to the dormitory is determined in the following manner:
- the number of points awarded to the student corresponds to the mathematical product of their GPA in the last four grades of primary school multiplied by a coefficient of fifteen (15);
- the student whose parent is deceased (proven by a copy of a death certificate) earns additional ten (10) points;
- students pursuant to Article 126 of the Act on the Rights of Croatian War Veterans and Members of Their Families (Official Gazette, no. 121/2017); - if they do not meet the conditions for direct admission to student dormitories and children of Croatian war veterans who participated in the defence of the sovereignty of the Republic of Croatia for at least 100 days in the combat sector have priority in accommodation in student dormitories and earn additional ten (10) points;
- students pursuant to Article 48.e of the Act on the Protection of Disabled Military and Civilian War Veterans (Official Gazette, no. 33/1992, 57/1992, 77/1992, 58/1993, 2/1994, 76/1994, 108/1995, 108/1996, 82/2001, 94/2001, 103/2003 and 148/2013) - children of persons killed, deceased or missing under the circumstances referred to in Articles 6, 7 and 8 of this Act, children of disabled civilian war veterans whose bodily injury occurred under the circumstances referred to in Article 8 of this Act and children of peacetime disabled military and civilian war veterans of the first group with a 100-percent bodily disability, who have an advantage with regard to admission to dormitories if their regular monthly income per household member does not exceed 60% of the tax base, earn additional ten (10) points;
- a student whose parent is a peacetime disabled military or civilian war veteran who has bodily disability of exceeding 50%, earns additional five (5) points;
- a student with special social status earns additional 10 points if:
b) they live with long-term unemployed parents, within the meaning of Article 2 of the Employment Promotion Act (Official Gazette, no. 57/2012 and 120/2012), (as evidenced by a certificate on long-term unemployment of both parents issued by the regional office of the Croatian Employment Service);
c) they live with a single parent (parent who is not married and does not live in a domestic partnership, and takes care of and supports their child on their own) who exercises the right to social welfare, within the meaning of Articles 4, 21 and 30 of the Social Welfare Act (Official Gazette, no. 157/2013, 152/2014 and 99/2015) and have obtained a decision or other administrative document from the social welfare centre or the competent authority in the local or regional government unit and the City of Zagreb on the rights of a single parent as a beneficiary to social welfare (as evidenced by a certificate on benefiting from social welfare, decision or other administrative document of the social welfare centre or the competent authority in the local or regional government unit and the City of Zagreb on rights of a single parent on the social welfare status issued by authorised health, social welfare and/or employment services);
- students who have won one of the first three places in the last four years of primary education in the national and/or international competition in knowledge and/or school sports associations earn additional six (6) points;
- a student who has had an exemplary grade in behaviour in the last four years of primary education earns five (5) additional points;
- a student whose brother or sister (or more of them) regularly attends an educational institution and lives outside their place of permanent residence earns five (5) additional points according to the number of siblings.
If a student has participated in several competitions or in competitions from several fields, types and levels, the most favourable result is taken into account.
The certificate of participation or diploma on the achieved result in the competition for the state competition is issued by the Education and Teacher Training Agency, whereas for competitions of school sports associations, the certificate is issued by the Croatian School Sports Federation.
The state competitions in knowledge from the Catalogue of Competitions and Festivals of Primary and Secondary School Students of the Republic of Croatia, organised by the Education and Teacher Training Agency and approved by the Ministry of Education and Science, and international competitions verified by the Education and Teacher Training Agency are taken into account.
Competitions of school sports associations that are organised according to the Regulations of the National Championship of School Sports Associations of the Republic of Croatia under the supervision of the competition committee of the Croatian School Sports Association are taken into account.
Exceptionally, the director of the dormitory decides on special conditions of admission to the student dormitory when resolving individual cases with the consent of the county administration department responsible for education, the state administration office in the county, or the office for education of the City of Zagreb.