Cash Awards – Scholarships for Successful Candidates in the 2026 Panhellenic Examinations
Programme of cash awards – scholarships for pupils who succeeded for the first time in the 2026 Panhellenic Examinations for admission to public Higher Education Institutions in Greece, who are LAE/OPEKA beneficiaries with direct or indirect entitlement.
This year too, LAE/OPEKA is implementing the programme of cash awards – scholarships for pupils who succeeded for the first time in the 2026 Panhellenic Examinations for admission to public Higher Education Institutions in Greece, who are LAE/OPEKA beneficiaries with direct or indirect entitlement.
Applications are submitted online by the parent who is the direct beneficiary of LAE/OPEKA benefits of the child who meets the requirements to become a beneficiary (or by the child themselves, in the case of an orphan’s pension), through the dedicated OPEKA application available on the Organisation’s website (here (in Greek)) from Wednesday 16 September at 15:00 to Monday 16 November at 23:59.
The beneficiaries of the benefit are 2,106 children who are direct or indirect (dependent members) beneficiaries of LAE/OPEKA, provided that:
a) they were pupils in the 2025-2026 school year, and
b) they are unmarried and unemployed, and
c) they are enrolling for the first time at a public Higher Education Institution in Greece, having succeeded in the 2026 Panhellenic Examinations (or through any other procedure treated as equivalent to the Panhellenic Examinations by the competent Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports).
Please note that:
- dependent members are children who are indirectly insured through the same direct beneficiary of LAE/OPEKA benefits, or through their other parent, provided that the other parent is also a direct beneficiary of LAE/OPEKA benefits,
- direct members are children who have their own insurance entitlement as recipients of an orphan’s pension, or a disability pension (child unable to do any work), or a paraplegia – quadriplegia allowance (paraplegic allowance) from e-EFKA (OGA).
The cash award – scholarship for eligible children amounts to one thousand euros (€1,000) and is set by Decision No. 7515/7-4-2026 (Government Gazette B’ 2326/24.04.2026) of the Minister of Social Cohesion and Family.
If the applications that meet the relevant requirements exceed the number of beneficiaries set for this year’s programme, the final beneficiaries will be determined by an electronic draw carried out by the online application, using criteria to be approved by the OPEKA Board of Directors; the results will be announced on the OPEKA website.
The following take part with priority, are exempt from the draw and become beneficiaries of the benefit immediately, provided they meet all other criteria for its award:
a) children with a disability of fifty per cent (50%) or more, as well as children who are direct LAE beneficiaries as recipients of an orphan’s pension, and/or
b) children at least one of whose parents receives the foster care allowance under Article 12 of Law 4538/2018 (Government Gazette A’ 85), paid by OPEKA, and/or
c) children at least one of whose parents is a direct LAE/OPEKA beneficiary with three, or four or more, children who meet the requirements of paragraph 3 of Article 4 of the above-mentioned decision of the Minister of Social Cohesion and Family.
