When questioned by PS deputy António Mendonça Mendes at a parliamentary hearing about the status of the wage bonus, the minister said that “those who registered in 2024 received payment in 2024 and 2025, the government is reviewing the issue of the wage bonus and will present a new proposal soon”.
Faced with insistence on this support, for which the law is still in force, the minister said only that “the Government has taken the decision to review the salary bonus”.
The salary bonus represents a refund of tuition fees to young people up to the age of 35, paid annually by the Treasury, upon request by young people, for the number of years equivalent to the cycle of studies that led to the award of the academic degree.
The legislation provides that applications must be submitted annually by 31 May, but the Government has not opened applications.
The incentive was created by António Costa’s Government in 2023 to allow young workers, up to the year they turn 35, to ask the State for a refund of their tuition fees in recognition of the completion of their bachelor’s or master’s degree.
In the case of a bachelor’s degree, the amount paid is €697, and for a master’s degree, €1,500 (in an integrated master’s degree, the years corresponding to the bachelor’s degree entitle the student to €697 and those corresponding to the master’s degree to the same €1,500).