6,300 PLN per month. Salaries paid to first-year students.

• Students of military universities in Poland receive high salaries already in the first year of studies
• The Ministry of National Defence is changing training rules to prevent abuses.
• The new regulations tighten the system by limiting the possibility of repeating the first year without consequences.

The newspaper reports that the Military University of Technology is one of four military universities operating in Poland. A first-year student at the military university receives 6,300 PLN in monthly pay from the Polish army, the same as a conscript soldier . In subsequent years, the amount increases even more.

- Even if he leaves the university after a year, he does not have to pay back the money , as he has completed a voluntary one-year compulsory military service and is a "personnel resource of the Armed Forces" - we read in "Rzeczpospolita".

The Ministry of National Defense will introduce changes to the system to prevent abuse

The attractive system introduced three years ago has, however, become a field for abuse: students repeating their first-year military education , admits the Ministry of National Defence in a response to "Rzeczpospolita".

• After the first year, nearly every fourth student soldier did not continue his studies.
• He did not have to pay back over PLN 70,000.

- The Ministry of National Defense assures that the system is being "tightened to prevent any abuses and irregularities" - writes "Rzeczpospolita".

The newspaper recalled that new education rules, including a fixed salary for student soldiers, were introduced in 2022 by the Homeland Defense Act. This was recognized as a new form of active military service, i.e., voluntary compulsory military service during the first year of studies at a military university – as distinct from voluntary compulsory military service performed in military units. The training consists of a 28-day basic training course, culminating in an oath and the issuance of a military service booklet .

Principles of financing and support from the Ministry of National Defense

According to information from "Rzeczpospolita",

• a cadet student receives a salary of PLN 6,300 in the first year of studies,
• and from the second year of studies after being called up for professional military service, remuneration appropriate to professional military service (i.e. from 102% to 120% of the lowest basic remuneration of a professional soldier), depending on the year of education and military rank held.

- Throughout the entire period of studies, regardless of the remuneration they receive, as indicated above, they are educated free of charge, as the entire burden of expenses related to accommodation, meals, and securing military supplies rests with the Ministry of National Defence - emphasizes the Ministry of National Defence.

- In the 2022/2023 academic year, as many as 25% of cadets generally accepted for the first year of studies discontinued their studies, a year later - 22%. Currently (as of the end of July 2025) - only 10% of cadets generally accepted for the first year of studies did not complete the first year of studies for various reasons - informs the newspaper.

According to the Ministry of National Defence, "the disturbing phenomenon identified by the Ministry of National Defence (i.e. interrupting the first year of studies with virtually no consequences in order to repeat it at the expense of the Ministry of National Defence - and in fact the taxpayer) was stopped by "sealing" the legal system" .

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