The website Newsworthy has collected information from CSN on how many high school students get their grants revoked in Skellefteå municipality.
The withdrawal of study grants due to unauthorized abseces is becoming more common among high school students in Sweden. This trend is also evident in Skellefteå. Here, the number of truant (and broke) high school students is increasing for the third year in a row, according to the news site Newsworthy, which compiled statistics from CSN.
– Except for during the pandemic we have senn a continous increase in the amount of students who have their study grants withdrawn due unauthorized absences, says Peter Engberg, analyst at CSN, in a press release.
In Skellefteå municipality, 286 high school students had their study grants withdrawn due to skipping school during the 2023/2024 school year. This corresponds to 11.6 percent of the students. The year before, the number was 280 students, according to Newsworthy.
High school students in Skellefteå lose their study grants at a higher rate than in the rest of the country. Nationwide, the corresponding percentage is 10.7.
Nordmaling is highest on the list of most high school students with revoced grants from CSN. Skellefteå places third.
The increase in numbers may be due to various factors, but partly because schools are getting better at informing CSN.
– In cases where we withdraw the study grant, we base it on the reports we receive from the schools. One of several possible explanations is that schools' routines for monitoring student absenteeism have improved, says Peter Engberg.
More high school students get their grants revoked due to unauthorized absences, accordning to new data from CSN that Newsworthy has presented.
If a student has more than four hours of unauthorized abseces, the school can report it to CSN. CSN can then decide to withdraw the student's study grant. But there are significant differences across the country regarding how student absences are reported, according to the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket). The agency notes that there are different routines for absenteeism reporting among different municipalities, schools, and even among teachers.
One trend is clear, both in Skellefteå and in the rest of the country—independent schools stand out in the statistics.
It is more common for students at independent high schools to have their study grants withdrawn than students at municipal schools.
The amount of students getting their CSN grants revoked in Skellefteå has risen for three consecutive years. During the 2023/2024 school year 286 students in the municipality were affected. Students in independent schools stand out in the statistics.
In Skellefteå, 28.5 percent of students at independent schools had their study grants withdrawn. At municipal schools, the corresponding figure was 8.6 percent, according to Newsworthy.
During the 2017/2018 school year, the situation was different. Only 4.1 percent of high school students in Skellefteå had their study grants withdrawn. This is the lowest figure to date. Even during the pandemic, the numbers decreased across Sweden. In Skellefteå, 6.8 percent had their study grants withdrawn. According to CSN, this may be due to the introduction of distance learning.