METU runs continuous, targeted programmes to help students from the poorest households stay enrolled and complete their degrees.

METU Scholarship and Support Programme (Scholarship and Support Committee)

Every year, METU's Scholarship and Support Committee assesses students' financial need and awards cash, dormitory and meal support for 9–12 months, worth 4,000–10,000 TL a month in 2026–27. Support continues from year to year while the student remains in need and makes academic progress, and under the METU Scholarship and Support Directive it can extend beyond the normal length of the programme. The aid fund is supported by the METU Student Support Association, the METU Development Foundation, alumni, students' families and companies. About one in three of the roughly 3,000 students who enter METU each year receive support through this programme.

Source: METU Directorate of Student Affairs, annual activity reports 2023–2025.

METU Alumni Association need-based scholarship

The METU Alumni Association runs its own need-based scholarship for METU undergraduates, explicitly based on financial need rather than academic merit. Each year it interviews applicants face to face – about 700 students in the last year – and pays scholarships of 4,000 TL (full) or 2,250 TL (half) a month for nine months. n calendar year 2025, the Association spent 9,293,717 TL from its Scholarship Fund, which pays these scholarships and also supports students’ housing, food and other basic needs.

The programme goes beyond financial support: through a partnership with the Bridge to Türkiye Fund, 73 METU students received an additional six-month scholarship in 2025–26; scholarship holders are referred to tutoring jobs and internships offered by alumni; and seminars on wellbeing are organised for them, including a session on psychological resilience and time management on 9 November 2025. Alumni runners raised 2,090,000 TL for the scholarship fund through marathon campaigns between November 2025 and February 2026.

METU Development Foundation Comprehensive Support and Merit Scholarship Programme (2025)

A support package for students in financial hardship that combines a scholarship with free dormitory accommodation and free cafeteria meals.

Paid work on campus

Students can work part-time in university units for up to 15 hours a week

The İŞKUR Youth Programme, run by the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR) with state universities since February 2025, gives students from lower-income households paid work on their own campus: students whose household income is above three times the net minimum wage cannot take part. Students work up to three days a week, receive a daily allowance from İŞKUR (1,083 TL a day in 2025) and are covered by health and work-accident insurance. METU organises the work and supervises the students in its units, including laboratories, the library, the Health and Guidance Centre, sports and cultural activities and campus sustainability work. According to METU's personnel records (VARSİS), 1,985 METU students worked at METU under the programme in 2025.