What the result of the Dutch elections holds in store for students

Will the basic grant be reintroduced?

Until just two years ago, Dutch students received a basic grant of about two hundred and fifty euros a month if they didn’t live with their parents. This was then abolished, supposedly to give students an extra incentive to finish their studies in time.

However, this has led to a significant hike in the national study debt, and some political parties claim that it discourages would-be students from less wealthy families from entering university. It is unlikely, however, that the basic grant will be reintroduced soon as these parties (all but the liberal VVD, Labour party PvdA, the greens of GroenLinks and the liberal democratic D66 party) fall short of a majority.

Will tuition for students who have already graduated be restricted?

Anyone who wants to continue studying at the University of Amsterdam after having already obtained a degree must now pay thousands of euros per year. For some studies, such as dentistry, the amount can be as much as 25.000 euros per year. At the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, the amount is 4.611,83 euros. In April last year, socialist SP and liberal democratic D66 proposed that these costs should be maximised — the proposal was rejected by most right wing parties.

Now the progressive parties finally have the 76 seats they need for a majority but as it is not custom in the Netherlands for one political party to enjoy a majority by itself, they must join into a coalition. Of these coalition parties, two of the three (the liberal VVD and the christian-democrats of the CDA) that will likely join to form a government are still not in favour of the proposal.

Will enrolment requirements be loosened?

Then there's the issue of enrolment requirements for universities and the left’s proposal to loosen these requirements. When an institution has a maximum of students it can accept, then it can select via a lottery. A few years ago these institutions were allowed to evaluate students based on grades. This year the procedure has changed again: universities cannot select students by lottery anymore, but must make a selection on the basis of objective criteria set by themselves. This, in practice, means they will select students after evaluating their grades and motivation letter.

Most left wing parties, however, think the criteria not transparent enough, and put students from less wealthy families and ethnic minorities at a disadvantage. They want to restrict this so-called ‘selection at the gate’ measures. There’s no majority for these restrictions – only 69 seats in favour – but D66 and GroenLinks could negotiate a reform during the negotiations for a new government.