Political wrangling with tuition and expat provisions
Will tuition for “unlucky” students go down or not? And where will the money come from—will expats pay more taxes? Politicians are debating these topics.
It was election time and the House of Representatives made a decision. For students with student loans, the interest rate on student loan debts must go down. This was paid for by a cut in the provisions for expats, which gave foreign knowledge workers a tax break.
It was the idea of Pieter Omtzigt, who wanted to kill two birds with one stone: reduce migration and better accommodate students who have not been receiving the basic scholarship since 2015. Everyone voted for it, except the VVD.
But: How should that interest rate cut be financed? Education Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf sent the House of Representatives a letter with three options and then waited, putting the ball in the House of Representatives' court.
Waiting
But the parties remained silent. “We want to leave it to the next government to find a good arrangement for this unlucky generation,” said House member Rosanne Hertzberger (NSC) in January.
The D66 and the SP suggested putting a “Chinese wall” around the money so that it would at least be preserved for the so-called unlucky generation. That motion was rejected by the PVV, NSC, VVD, and BBB.
Those are the four parties negotiating the formation of a new cabinet. But it may be some time before they hammer it out, so for unlucky students, it remains to be seen what they agree on and whether the money will actually come their way.
Expats
The De Telegraaf daily wrote about this yesterday, also highlighting doubts about the scaled-down provisions for expats. Indeed, that austerity is under discussion. Large companies like ASML are fed up with the fact that they cannot easily bring in expertise from abroad.
So some parties are taking action. The Senate was already critical. Senators from the D66, CDA, and BBB slapped their own parties on the knuckles and felt that the adjustment of the expat regulation would harm the economy.
Meanwhile, voices in the House of Representatives are also calling for reconsideration. A BBB MP, for example, wants to review curbing the provisions for expats. The House should not have “rushed this decision through,” he said on Radio1.
International students
The business community is also critical of reducing the number of foreign students coming to the Netherlands, ASML chief Peter Wennink indicated. After all, some of those students continue to work in the Netherlands. If the chip manufacturer cannot find suitable employees here, the company should look for them elsewhere, he said.
