ANP
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 02:03
The total student debt of current and former students (1.6 million people) rose to 28.2 billion euros at the beginning of this year. That is an increase of 1.7 billion euros compared to the previous year, reports the Central Bureau of Statistics.
The debt increases every year and has more than doubled since the introduction of the loan system in 2015. As of the current academic year, the loan system has been stopped and the basic grant for students in higher education has returned.
120,000 people with more than 50,000 euros in debt
After years of increase, the number of people with student debt has remained virtually the same since 2021. This year, more than 330,000 people had a student debt of more than 30,000 euros. That is 26,000 more than the year before and 215,000 more than in 2015.
More than 120,000 people had a student debt of more than 50,000 euros and 1,800 of them even had more than a hundred thousand euros in debt. For half of people with a student debt, the debt is less than 10,000 euros.
The age category with the largest student debt is the group between 25 and 30 years old, who are already repaying. The debt there is on average 22,900 euros.
Increase in interest rates
Yesterday it was announced that from next year the interest on student debt will be more than five times as high as it is now. The interest rate will rise from 0.46 to 2.56 percent, the highest level in fourteen years. The increase is the result of the increased interest that the government itself has to pay to borrow money.
2023-10-10 00:03:16
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