Year-long wait for money for Ukrainian students, if it comes at all

Initially, refugees from Ukraine who came to study here paid the same tuition fees as Dutch students. This was done out of solidarity after Russia launched a major ground war in 2022.
 
No funding
More than 1,200 students were involved. But universities and colleges had to pay for this solidarity out of their own pockets. The government did not provide funding as these were students from outside the European Union.
 
Some institutions - but not all - were concerned that this was becoming too expensive. So for new students this academic year, they went back to charging the high institutional tuition for students from outside the European Union.
 
The cabinet let that happen. Funding was not forthcoming because the four coalition parties were at odds, disagreeing on the topic of curbing migration. This stood in the way of a decision on these refugee students.
 
GroenLinks-PvdA and D66 wanted to submit a motion last week stipulating that the government should pay for these students from Ukraine for the next academic year with windfalls from the Spring Memorandum.
 
But it won’t be that easy, according to a response from outgoing minister Robbert Dijkgraaf. If the cabinet wants to apply “statutory tuition” to displaced students from Ukraine, the regulations would have to be changed. That would take about one year, so the low tuition fees for these students “would not apply until the 2025/26 academic year at the earliest.”
 
“Broader investigation”
Dijkgraaf asked if the two parties want to hold off on their motion until a “broader investigation” of provisions for displaced persons from Ukraine has been carried out.
 
They agree to hold off on the motion, MP Luc Stultiens (GroenLinks-PvdA) indicated. This has a practical political reason. At the moment, such a motion would probably be voted down, while after an investigation, there would be a chance of obtaining a majority.