Update HBO students who progress to a university master’s do not miss ‘years’ of basic grant compared to other master’s students, but only one year. This was reported by outgoing Minister of Education Robbert Dijkgraaf after reporting by Radar, the consumer program of Avrotros.
Anyone who obtains a bachelor’s degree and then a master’s degree at higher professional education or university receives a basic grant for the entire duration of their studies, even if the master’s degree lasts several years. Students who obtain an HBO master’s degree after their university bachelor’s degree also receive the basic grant. “But if you visit the university after college, you will be left out,” Radar said in its broadcast on Monday evening.
About 5,000 transfer students were affected by this rule last academic year, the program reported, citing figures from Statistics Netherlands (Central Bureau of Statistics). “In the 2023/2024 academic year they will miss out on 5,200 euros in basic grant,” Radar said.
Minister
According to outgoing Minister of Education Robbert Dijkgraaf, it is not true that higher professional education students miss ‘years’ of basic grant when they do a university master’s degree. ‘With a one-year master’s degree, you now do not receive a basic grant for 1 year. But with a two-year university master’s degree, as a higher professional education student you still receive 1 year of basic grant,” his spokesperson explains in a written response to this news site. ‘In the current system you receive one year less performance grant than the nominal duration of that master’s program: 2-1=1. So it is 1 year, not ‘years’.’
I find it difficult to explain that a higher professional education student who wants to do a one-year university master’s degree after his higher professional education bachelor’s degree does not receive a basic grant.
Outgoing Minister of Education Robbert Dijkgraaf
Minister Dijkgraaf finds it ‘difficult to explain’ that a higher professional education student who wants to do a one-year university master’s degree after completing his higher professional education bachelor’s degree does not receive a basic grant. While he would get it if he had done an HBO master’s degree. But, as he also said in the broadcast, that is something for the next government to tackle.
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You can apply for a basic grant for 2023-2024 until August 31, 2024. © DUO
Reintroduction of basic grant
The basic grant will return to higher education from the 2023-2024 academic year and applies to all students, including those who have already started a study. The condition is that students are still entitled to student financing, or that they are within the number of years that the study officially lasts.
According to the minister, the reintroduction of the basic grant is a major step towards bringing the MBO, HBO and WO systems closer together. ‘This fits with his idea that we should have as few differences as possible within further education. Consider the repayment scheme for MBO students, who, just like HBO and WO students, now have 35 years to pay off their student debt,” his spokesman said.
But this does not mean that there are no longer differences that cannot be properly explained. These concern, for example, student financing, the spokesperson continues. “The minister was keen to bring back the basic grant this month. That was a widely shared wish. The schedule was very tight, but we succeeded. But to make this introduction possible by September 2023, it has been decided to tie in as much as possible with the existing student financing system.’
Adjusting the transition between HBO bachelor’s and university master’s degrees is a structural change that costs a lot of money and time. ‘Because the cabinet is now out of office, it is up to the next cabinet to decide whether and what should be done about the current difference between university and college students following a master’s degree.
In principle, students are entitled to a performance-related grant for 4 years. This is sufficient to complete an HBO bachelor’s degree (4 years) or a WO bachelor’s and master’s degree (3+1 years). Whether you will receive an additional performance-related grant on top of this depends on the master’s program you choose:
– For an HBO master’s degree, you will receive a performance-related grant for the nominal duration of that master’s study. The first four years were used for the HBO bachelor’s degree, making the HBO master’s degree also accessible.
– For a university master’s degree, you will receive a performance grant for the nominal duration minus one year extra (i.e. for a two-year master’s degree, one year extra). This is because the university bachelor’s degree only lasts three years for university students. The four years that the student receives in principle also includes one year of master’s.
– Students who go from a HBO bachelor’s degree to a WO master’s degree receive one year less performance grant than the nominal duration of the master’s degree program.
– For an HBO bachelor’s degree plus one-year HBO master’s degree, a student is entitled to a five-year basic grant (for five years of study).
– For an HBO bachelor’s degree plus one-year WO master’s degree, a student is entitled to four years of basic grant (for five years of study).
– For a university bachelor’s degree plus one-year university master’s degree, a student is entitled to five years of basic grant (or even six years, for a two-year master’s degree)
This arrangement already existed in the loan system and before that in the old basic grant system, so before 2015. That arrangement assumed that you had a higher professional education or a university degree, so one level of education. But about 10 percent of HBO students now go on to do a WO master’s degree after their four-year bachelor’s degree. “Then you go to a different level of education,” said the spokesperson for outgoing minister Dijkgraaf.
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2023-09-18 20:37:06
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