Changes to Dutch Student Finance

Changes to Dutch Student Finance

One of the most common questions we are asked relates to possible changes in Dutch student finance. Keeping on top of Dutch government intentions is quite difficult and it is often the case that mooted changes find their way into the public domain before they have even happened.

From 1st January 2014 there are some changes that may impact on British students. Currently it is possible for students who work 32 hours a month to access grants and/or loans for maintenance costs. This will change to 56 hours a month from 2014, meaning that students will now have to work considerably more than a Saturday job in order to access this funding.

Students already at Dutch universities will also be affected by this change as it is not really a change in student finance so much as a change in the minimum requirement to be regarded as a Dutch resident. However, the reality is that Dutch university degrees may be harder to finance in future. This doesn't change the fact that a 3 year Dutch degree is likely to cost around £27,000 in total in comparison with over £50,000 in England.

A likely future change is that all grants in the Dutch system will be converted into loans for new students from 2014 or 2015. However, this has not yet been voted on.

There is no change to the Collegegeldkrediet system of tuition fee loans as these must be available to all European Union nationals.

We have updated the loans and grants page of our website to reflect these changes and will get round to changing the cost comparisons on our site shortly.