Basic grant for higher education reintroduced, students find the amount too low

The basic grant for higher education will be reintroduced. That is what the cabinet has decided. In the 2023-2024 academic year, all students, including those who have already completed their studies, will receive an allowance towards their study costs.

This concerns 255 euros for students who live away from home and 91 euros for students who live at home. The condition is that the study is completed within ten years. otherwise the scholarship becomes a loan.

The basic grant is for all students, regardless of the income of their parents. The existing supplementary grant, which is income-related, will remain unchanged.

Compensation

The cabinet calls the introduction of the basic grant “wry for the generation that has studied between the two systems”. There is therefore 1 billion euros available to make “a gesture” to these (former) students.

Students who have studied for four years receive an allowance of 1,400 euros. Students who just miss the first year of the new basic grant will receive 359 euros.

374,000 students who received a voucher during the first four years of the loan system will receive it back in money terms. This concerns 1770 euros deducted from their loan, or a payment if their loan has already been repaid.

According to Minister Dijkgraaf of Education, the systems of the implementing organization DUO should not process everything at once. That is why the systems are first adapted to the basic grant and then to the allowance for students who came under the student loan system.

Students: this turns out to be a miscalculation

The Interstedelijk Studenten Overleg is not happy with the cabinet’s plans. “With 91 euros, students living at home can’t even pay their tuition fees and with a grant of 255 euros living away from home, only 44 euros a month remains after the study costs for groceries or rent,” says chair Lisanne de Roos.

She is happy that there will be money for students, “but their financial problems and worries will remain with the proposed basic grant. The idea that there would be a full basic grant turns out to be a miscalculation.”

According to De Roos, the amounts are also a disappointment because students received more money before the introduction of the loan system. “At the same time, inflation has steadily increased; tuition fees, groceries and room rent (with rising gas prices) have become more expensive. Students therefore receive a lower basic grant than in 2015, but have to pay more.”

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