How to Fund Your Graduate Studies in Turkey: Scholarships, Waivers and Assistantships

Contents

1. What does funding a graduate degree in Turkey mean?

2. Which funding routes are open to international students?

3. How competitive is the Türkiye Scholarships program?

4. How do you prepare a funding application?

5. How do university tuition waivers work?

6. Can international master's and PhD students work in Turkey?

7. Which funding claims are commonly misunderstood?

8. What should you do next?

9. Real-World Examples

10. Frequently Asked Questions

11. References

12. Legal Notice

Introduction

Most international graduate students in Turkey pay for their studies themselves. The Council of Higher Education (YÖK) stated in December 2025 that more than 96 per cent of international students in Turkey finance their education through their own means, and that Turkey hosted 378,000 international students from 198 countries. Funding, for the remaining minority, comes from four distinct systems rather than one.

Those systems are a government scholarship program administered by the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), tuition waivers granted by individual universities, payment as a scholarship holder on a research project funded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK), and paid employment held under a work permit issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. This article works through each of them using YÖK statistics published on 27 March 2026, YTB announcements, TÜBİTAK principles dated 29 December 2025, and the published rules of named universities. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) records in Education at a Glance 2025 that international students rose from 1.7 per cent to 4.3 per cent of tertiary enrolment in Turkey between 2013 and 2023.

Two things move with the calendar and should be checked on the institution's own page before any application: the Türkiye Scholarships application window, and the tuition schedule set each academic year under Article 46 of Higher Education Law No. 2547. Mezun Kampüsü tracks the announcement side of that calendar for graduate programs in Turkey.

What does funding a graduate degree in Turkey mean?

Funding a graduate degree in Turkey means covering two separate things: the tuition the university charges, and the cost of living while you study. Turkish universities usually address the first through a waiver rather than a payment. A tuition waiver is an arrangement under which a university does not collect the tuition fee it would otherwise charge a student for a stated period.

An international student is a person who is not a citizen of the Republic of Turkey and who is admitted to a higher education institution under international student status. For that group, tuition is charged under a separate schedule. İstanbul Technical University's registrar's office states that student fees and tuition fees are regulated by Article 46 of Higher Education Law No. 2547, and that the schedule for the 2026-2027 academic year was put into force by Presidential Decree No. 11625 of 14 August 2026. Within that framework, institutions set the tuition charged to students admitted under international admission quotas.

The word used on Turkish university pages for financial support is burs, translated as scholarship. On many pages it means a tuition discount and nothing else. TOBB University of Economics and Technology states that its scholarships cover tuition fee discounts only and do not include accommodation, living expenses or any monthly stipend. Research-intensive universities differ: Sabancı University's Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences lists a tuition fee exemption as one line item, with a monthly stipend, dormitory support and health insurance as separate items in the same package.

Two offers described with the same word can therefore differ completely. Reading what a scholarship covers, item by item, is the first step in comparing funding across Turkish universities.

Which funding routes are open to international students?

Five funding routes were open to international master's and doctoral applicants in Turkey as of August 2026: the Türkiye Scholarships program run by YTB, tuition waivers and merit scholarships granted by individual universities, payment as a scholarship holder on a TÜBİTAK-funded research project, paid employment held under a work permit, and support administered by an applicant's own country.

Table 1 compares those routes by administering body, degree level, what each typically provides, and the main restriction the official rules place on it.

Table 1. Funding routes for international graduate applicants in Turkey, compared by administering body, degree level, coverage and restriction

Two of these routes are decided before you arrive and two after. Türkiye Scholarships and an admission-stage university waiver are settled during the application year, while a project scholarship and a work permit depend on circumstances that appear once you are enrolled.

How competitive is the Türkiye Scholarships program?

Türkiye Scholarships is the largest single funding route and the most contested. YTB announced on 26 February 2026 that the program had received nearly 200,000 applications in its 2026 cycle. The YTB department page for international students records 121,830 applications from 170 countries in 2024, and states that approximately 5,000 international students receive scholarships every year.

By receiving over 200,000 applications, we have achieved a massive record in the history of Türkiye Scholarships.
— Abdulhadi Turus, President of the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), 26 February 2026

The published criteria set an age band by level: Türkiye Scholarships lists being under the age of 30 for master's programs and under the age of 35 for doctoral programs. The criteria page also sets a minimum academic achievement threshold, expressed as a percentage, with a higher threshold in the health sciences fields of medicine, dentistry and pharmacy. Citizens of the Republic of Turkey, and applicants already enrolled at a Turkish university at the level they are applying for, are listed as ineligible.

The calendar published by Türkiye Scholarships runs the general application period from 10 January to 20 February, with evaluation in March and April, interviews between April and June, results in early August, and transfers to Turkey in September. YTB confirmed those dates for the 2026 cycle on 15 January 2026, and Türkiye Scholarships states that applications are made free of charge through its own information system. Selection runs through a preliminary assessment, an expert evaluation of academic background and stated goals, an interview conducted by committees of academics and experts, and a final assessment.

Language is part of the package rather than a barrier to it. Türkiye Scholarships states that it provides free one-year Turkish language education to all Türkiye Scholarship students regardless of the language of the program they will study, delivered at Turkish Language Teaching Centres (TÖMER) within universities, with a Turkish Proficiency Certificate at C1 level expected at the end of that year.

How do you prepare a funding application?

Preparation for graduate funding in Turkey is mostly verification done before a deadline rather than writing done after one. Strong applications confirm eligibility on the administering body's own page, gather documents that take weeks to obtain abroad, and identify a second funding route in case the first does not succeed. The checklist below covers the actions common to every route in this article.

• Read the eligibility criteria on the administering body's own page and confirm the age band for your degree level

• Confirm the language of instruction of the program and the proof of language the university asks for

• Obtain your diploma and transcripts, and check what certification your documents need for use in Turkey

• Write down the application months for each route and set a reminder ahead of each one

• Ask prospective supervisors whether they hold a funded research project that takes scholarship holders

• Open the tuition and scholarship page of every university on your list and note what each waiver covers

• Read the graduate school's regulation for the conditions attached to continuing support

• Note the General Health Insurance application window that starts at first registration

Two of these carry more weight than the rest. Contacting supervisors matters because project scholarships attach to individual funded projects rather than to a central round, and no calendar announces them. Document work matters because a diploma and transcript prepared for use in Turkey can take longer to assemble than the application form, and the window between 10 January and 20 February leaves limited room for delay. Record where each piece of information came from and on what date, since rules attached to a regulation, a calendar or a quota are reviewed periodically.

How do university tuition waivers work?

University tuition waivers in Turkey are granted by the institution itself, tied to academic performance, and reviewed on a fixed cycle rather than awarded once for a whole degree. State and foundation universities both operate them, and the conditions differ enough that comparing them by name is more useful than generalising.

Foundation universities work within a central rule. The Council of Higher Education's procedures on tuition-free student places, issued under Additional Article 9 of Higher Education Law No. 2547, require a foundation university to designate at least 15 per cent of the quota of each thesis master's and doctoral diploma program as scholarship places, and to report the number of graduate students studying free of tuition to YÖK each year as of 31 August. Whether international students count toward those places is not stated.

Table 2. Published tuition waiver conditions at five named Turkish universities, by institution type, provision and review cycle

METU publishes the clearest example of a cap. Its implementation principles, adopted by Senate decision on 26 April 2022, state that ten per cent of the total number of international students registered in graduate programs can receive a tuition discount or exemption, that the fundamental criterion is academic success, and that awards are valid for one academic year covering two semesters.

The pattern across these five institutions is consistent: the waiver is annual or semester-based, it rests on grades already earned, and it can end. Ask what happens to a waiver at the thesis stage.

Can international master's and PhD students work in Turkey?

International master's and doctoral students in Turkey may work if they hold a work permit, and the first-year waiting period applied to associate and undergraduate students is not applied to them. The Presidency of Migration Management states on its work permit page that students attending a formal program in Turkey may work provided that they obtain a work permit.

Article 19 of International Labour Force Law No. 6735 sets out the same rule and adds that the part-time limitation applied to associate and undergraduate students is not applied to graduate students enrolled in formal programs. Article 19 also states that a work permit granted to a foreign student does not end a valid student residence permit or the rights it provides, and Article 12 states that a work permit issued under that law takes the place of a residence permit. A student residence permit is the residence permit granted to a foreign national studying in Turkey, allowing them to remain in the country for the duration of their studies; on its own it does not authorise employment.

The research assistant route works differently. Article 33 of Higher Education Law No. 2547 describes research assistants as academic staff who assist with research, study and experiments carried out at higher education institutions, and Article 50/d allows graduate students to be appointed to those posts for one year at a time. Appointments are governed by the regulation published in the Official Gazette on 9 November 2018 under number 30590, which requires candidates to meet the conditions in Article 48 of Civil Servants Law No. 657. The first general condition listed in Article 48 is Turkish citizenship. That regulation also states that it does not apply to the contractual employment of foreign national academic staff, who are appointed under Article 34 of Law No. 2547 following pre-approval from YÖK and a work permit. The procedures on part-time student employment at higher education institutions, effective from 1 September 2009, similarly list not being a foreign national among the eligibility conditions.

The route that is expressly open is the research project scholarship. TÜBİTAK's administrative and financial principles for research projects, in the version adopted on 29 December 2025, state in Article 5 that students of the Republic of Turkey and foreign national students studying at undergraduate or graduate level at higher education institutions established in Turkey, other than special students and preparatory students, may take part in projects as scholarship holders, with payment for up to three years at master's level and up to six years at doctoral level.

Which funding claims are commonly misunderstood?

Three claims about graduate funding in Turkey circulate widely in English and no longer match the official record. Checking each against the administering body's own announcement takes minutes and changes which applications are worth preparing.

The first concerns TÜBİTAK. The 2215 Graduate Scholarship Programme for International Students and the 2235 Graduate Scholarship Programme for Least Developed Countries were repealed by a decision of the TÜBİTAK Science Board, announced on 16 October 2015, and the announcement states that applications are no longer accepted under either program and directs international students to Türkiye Scholarships. TÜBİTAK's current list of postgraduate education scholarship programs includes neither code.

The second concerns YÖK's doctoral scholarship. The procedures on scholarships granted by the Council of Higher Education to students enrolled in doctoral programs, effective 1 January 2024, state in Article 1 that the scheme supports students in doctoral programs at state higher education institutions, and list being a citizen of the Republic of Turkey among the eligibility conditions in Article 6. The program known as 100/2000 therefore sits outside the set of routes an international applicant can use.

The third concerns TÜBİTAK's domestic doctoral scholarships. The call announcement for the 2211-C Domestic Priority Areas Doctoral Scholarship Programme dated 27 February 2026 lists being a citizen of the Republic of Turkey, or holding a Blue Card under Law No. 5901, among its conditions. The contrast is worth holding on to: TÜBİTAK's central scholarship programs are tied to citizenship, while payment as a scholarship holder on a TÜBİTAK-funded project is open to foreign national students enrolled in Turkey.

What should you do next?

The next step depends on where you are in the academic year. An applicant who has not yet applied to a program works on the government scholarship calendar and university admission pages. An applicant already enrolled in Turkey works on project scholarships, university waivers and work permits, because those are decided after registration rather than before it.

The sequence below sets out an order of work rather than a guarantee of any outcome, and each step should be checked on the administering institution's own page before it is acted on.

1. Decide your degree level and confirm the age band and eligibility conditions published for that level.

2. Build a list of universities running the program you want, and read the tuition and scholarship page of each.

3. Prepare your diploma, transcripts and language documents early, allowing for certification abroad.

4. Apply to Türkiye Scholarships inside the published window if you are eligible, and apply to universities separately rather than waiting for a scholarship result.

5. Once enrolled, ask your department which research projects at your graduate school take scholarship holders.

6. Complete your General Health Insurance and residence permit procedures inside the periods set in regulation.

7. Re-check every rule described here on the institution's own page at the start of each application season.

General Health Insurance is the social security coverage providing access to healthcare services in Turkey; the application period for international students is limited by regulation. The seventh paragraph of Article 60 of Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law No. 5510 sets that period at three months from the date of first registration, which places it among the first tasks after enrolment rather than the later ones. Application calendars, tuition schedules and scholarship quotas are set for an academic year at a time, so any dated statement here is a starting point for verification.

Real-World Examples

The examples in this section are illustrative scenarios created to explain situations applicants may encounter.

Amina, applying from abroad for a master's degree. Amina holds a bachelor's degree in environmental engineering and is 27. She reads the Türkiye Scholarships criteria page, confirms that master's applicants are listed as needing to be under the age of 30, and prepares her application inside the window that runs from 10 January to 20 February. Because results are announced in early August, she also applies directly to three graduate schools whose admission calendars run separately, and reads the tuition and scholarship page of each. When the scholarship result arrives she has two paths open rather than one.

Daniyar, already enrolled and looking for support. Daniyar is in the first year of a doctoral program in materials science at a state university and is not a scholarship holder. Because Türkiye Scholarships lists applicants already enrolled in Turkey at the level applied for as ineligible, he turns to routes decided after registration. He asks his supervisor and two other faculty members whether they hold funded research projects that take scholarship holders, since TÜBİTAK's principles allow foreign national students enrolled in Turkey to be paid on a project. He also asks his graduate school how its tuition waiver is reviewed at the thesis stage.

Leila, comparing two offers. Leila receives an offer from a foundation university describing a full scholarship, and an offer from a state university describing a tuition exemption. Reading both pages carefully, she finds that one covers tuition only while the other lists a stipend, dormitory and health insurance as separate items. She writes to both graduate schools to ask what the award covers, how often it is reviewed, and what happens if her grade point average changes. The answers, not the word scholarship, tell her which offer covers more of her costs.

Tarek, planning to work alongside study. Tarek is starting a master's with thesis and wants to work part time. He reads Article 19 of Law No. 6735 and the Presidency of Migration Management's work permit page, and learns that graduate students may work provided they obtain a work permit, and that the first-year waiting period applied to undergraduate students is not applied to him. He also learns that his student residence permit alone does not authorise employment, so he asks a prospective employer to begin the work permit application.

About Mezun Kampüsü
Mezun Kampüsü is a platform that brings together the graduate programs, application calendars and academic announcements of universities in Turkey. Applicants comparing funding can review program pages through Atlas, follow the periods in which scholarship and admission applications are accepted, track announcements published by universities, and start a free application through the Universities section.
Update Information
Published: 26 August 2026
Last updated: 26 August 2026
Next review: 25 September 2026

Legal Notice

This article is general information about funding routes for graduate study in Turkey and is not personal academic, legal or financial advice. The regulations and practices described here can change over time, including Higher Education Law No. 2547, Civil Servants Law No. 657, International Labour Force Law No. 6735, Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law No. 5510, the regulation on appointments to academic staff posts other than faculty members published in the Official Gazette on 9 November 2018 under number 30590, and the annual Presidential Decree on student contributions and tuition fees.

Conditions attached to scholarships, tuition waivers and application calendars are set by each university and administering institution for a given period, and differ between programs and academic years. Because funding, work permits and residence status can carry legal consequences, applicants should confirm every detail with the official institution, the university's graduate school and the relevant public authority before acting.

Sources were last checked on 26 August 2026.