Is buying back your university years worth it for an earlier pension?
Buying back your years at university costs thousands of euros and "earns" you the same number of years of contributions. But the benefit isn't where most people look for it.
What the university-years buy-back is
With the riscatto della laurea you turn the years of your degree course into years of INPS contributions, paying the contributions nobody paid while you were studying. There are two versions:
- Standard buy-back: the cost depends on your current income. The more you earn, the more you pay, but the more your pension rises.
- Subsidised buy-back (agevolato): for periods valued under the contribution-based system, it has a fixed cost. For applications made in 2026 it's €6,206.64 per year bought back.
In both cases the amount is fully tax-deductible if you pay it for yourself, and it can be spread over up to 120 interest-free monthly instalments.
What it really costs: an example
Buying back 4 years under the subsidised scheme costs about €24,800. After the deduction, the net cost depends on your marginal tax rate:
| Marginal income tax rate | Net cost |
|---|---|
| 23% | ≈ €19,100 |
| 33% | ≈ €16,600 |
| 43% | ≈ €14,100 |
What you get: more years, little extra pension
The subsidised buy-back is based on a low notional income, so it adds little to the amount: 4 years are worth about €1,400 a year gross of extra pension at 67, plus revaluation of the pot. As a pure investment, recovering the net cost takes many years of pension.
The real value lies elsewhere: the years count towards your right to a pension. If you started working at 25 without gaps, you'd reach the 42 years and 10 months needed for the standard early pension after 67; with 4 years bought back, you could get there around 64. That's almost four extra years of pension, i.e. tens of thousands of euros.
When it pays off
- A long, continuous career: you're the ideal case. The buy-back can genuinely bring the standard early pension forward.
- A high income: a 33% or 43% deduction cuts the net cost substantially.
- Young age: the cost is fixed and revaluation of the pot works for longer. But requirements can change over decades, and that's the main risk.
When it pays off less: the FIRE case
If you plan to stop working well before the requirements, the buy-back helps less than it seems. Someone stopping at 50 is unlikely to reach 42 years and 10 months anyway, and their pension will come with the old-age pension at 67 and a few months, for which they usually already have 20 years of contributions. In that case the €16,000–19,000 net cost, invested, may be worth more as part of your bridge capital.
It can help in specific cases: to reach the 20 years needed for the contribution-based early pension at 64 if you're a few years short, or for people with short careers at risk of missing the 20 years for the old-age pension. See also the guide on how much pension you lose by stopping early.
Before deciding: ask INPS for a cost simulation and check, against your real contribution record, how many years earlier the buy-back would let you retire. If you're unsure, you can pay in instalments: if you stop paying, you're credited with the period corresponding to what you've already paid.
Try the tool: Pension fund vs ETF: tax saving calculator. Income tax saving, employer contribution and final capital: pension fund versus ETF.
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Book a free callFor information and education only. This is not investment advice or a personal recommendation. Tax and pension rules change over time: always check current requirements with official sources (INPS, Agenzia delle Entrate).