Student unions unhappy with plans government to continue loan system
‘Trust in the future,’ was the title of the agreement signed by the parties of the new Dutch government. Student loans are set to continue, but first year students will need to pay only half the tuition fee.
The new cabinet, comprised of the VVD, CDA, D66 and Christian Union parties, has pledged to make higher education more accessible. Over the last few years, higher tuition fees are believed to have driven away students from non-western families, and students whose parents did not attend university. The first year discount is intended to encourage these students to enrol.
Tariq Sewbaransingh, president of the Dutch Student Union (LSVb) and former UvA student, is unhappy: ‘The CDA and Christian Union had promised to abolish the loans system. The first-year discount won’t do anything to improve accessibility of higher education. I am deeply disappointed.’
‘At an average national student debt of 21,000 euro, a discount won’t help accessibility,’ writes the LSVb on its website. The Intercity Student Counsel (ISO) is similarly displeased: ‘Students will still have to assume deep debts in order to study,’ says president Rhea van der Dong.
Election
During the election campaign, the CDA and Christian Union had promised to replace the loans system with a national scholarship, previously abolished in 2014. This now seems out of the question. The new first year discount will cost 180 million euros. It is still unknown if it will be paid by the surplus gained with the abolition of the national scholarship.
