Hi everyone,
I want to share something honestly, from my own experience.
Several years ago, I was just like you — a participant. I also used to think: “If Erasmus+ already covers everything, why do organizations charge participation fees?” I even paid those fees myself and had doubts.
But when I stepped into the role of an organization, I understood the reality.
What we see is a 5–7 day project.
What we don’t see is the 1–5 years of work behind it — applying, building partnerships, handling documentation, preparing participants, coordinating logistics, and completing all the reporting after the project ends. It’s similar to how a 2-hour movie can take a year (or more) to produce.
An important point is that sending organizations usually do not receive direct funding for this operational work.
The Erasmus+ grant mainly covers participants’ travel, accommodation, and food — often worth around €500–€1000 depending on the project.
So even if someone pays €25–50 as a participation fee, they are still receiving a significant financial benefit.
In fact, even staying and eating at home for one week often costs more than this fee, so financially you are still clearly in benefit.
These fees help organizations:
• sustain their operations
• cover administrative and coordination costs
• continue finding and providing new projects
Without such support, many organizations would not be able to continue operating — or would only manage a very limited number of projects.
And that creates a bigger problem:
Demand is already very high.
If participation fees are not collected, projects could realistically drop to a small fraction (even around 5%) of current availability.
If projects reduce to even 5–10% of current numbers, competition becomes extremely high — and selection chances can drop significantly.
We also receive messages from participants in other countries who mention that they do not have as many projects, choices, or approval chances as currently available in Hungary.
There is no country-wise quota that guarantees a certain number of projects for any country. Opportunities depend largely on how actively organizations build partnerships and secure projects.
For example, if organizations did not actively work to bring projects to Hungary, many of these opportunities might not be available to Hungarian participants at all.
In some countries, where participation fees were widely resisted, organizations found it difficult to sustain themselves and, over time, some stopped operating. As a result:
• fewer projects are available
• opportunities are more limited
• and many people never get the chance to experience Erasmus+
Additionally, in recent years, some participants assumed that managing projects is simple and started their own initiatives.
However, many of them later faced challenges in sustaining these efforts after realizing how complex, time-consuming, and demanding the process actually is.
In several cases, their members eventually returned and began applying to established organizations again after experiencing these realities firsthand.
Yes, there are organizations that offer very low or no participation fees. In many cases:
• they operate on a smaller scale
• they may invest fewer resources in project development
• or they prioritize internal teams or close networks
• and sometimes they rely on alternative funding sources beyond Erasmus+ to sustain themselves
This often results in fewer overall opportunities.
I’m sharing this not to justify anything blindly, but to give you a complete perspective — because I’ve experienced both sides.
Participation fees are about sustainability — ensuring that opportunities continue to exist for everyone.
Hope this helps clarify things 😇
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2April 10, 2026 1.1K 1
