Study in Holland - Finance for UK students

Dutch Student Finance for British Students

How Dutch Student Finance works?
Studying in the Netherlands is not free, nor is it necessarily cheap. We can confidently state that the cost of a three year undergraduate degree will be roughly half the price of its equivalent in the United Kingdom. However, this may not be what your British degree actually costs you. Student finance in England is now structured in such a way that you will be unlikely to know the true cost of your degree until 30 years after you graduate.
The biggest obstacle to studying in the Netherlands is often financial because even though the overall cost is usually much lower, you will not be eligible for British student loans and grants. As soon as you decide to study outside the United Kingdom, the British government stops helping you financially. The only exception to this is if you go abroad on an exchange from a British university – a great way to get international experience but not a great way to avoid British tuition fees.
All of the information provided below is correct on the basis of our current understanding of the Dutch system. It is subject to change at any time.
This support is available to anyone with a British passport, it doesn't matter where you are ordinarily resident.
If British Student Finance isn’t available what can you get?
Help with Tuition Fees?
Because the European Union dictates that all EU citizens must be treated equally, British passport holders are automatically eligible for a tuition fee loan from the Dutch government. This is called Collegegeldkrediet. You don’t have to apply for Collegegeldkrediet if you don’t need it and you can pay the fees upfront if you wish.Some universities charge higher tuition fees, specifically private universities and university colleges. In these cases you will be able to borrow the full amount.
There are some important conditions you need to meet but these are rarely an issue for British students. You must be under the age of 30 when you start your course (over 30s can receive support but is not as generous), you must have a Dutch bank account and you must have a Dutch “burgerservicenummer” (citizen service number) which you will only receive when you have a permanent address in the Netherlands.
Help with Living Costs
Nothing....
...unless you work part time for 32 hours a month. Then you can apply for...
Studiefinanciering
This is the financial support that is available to Dutch residents and passport holders. If you have a Dutch passport, or have been resident in the Netherlands for five years without significant interruption, you can access this support automatically. However, if you aren’t Dutch but are from the EU, there are still some ways that you can access this support as long as you are under 30 years of age when your course starts.
i. Work 32 hours a month in a registered job. You will need to be registered with the Dutch authorities for income tax and national insurance, although as a student you won’t actually have to pay this;

ii. If you are married or have a registered partner from the EU and Switzerland, if they work 32 hours a month with a contract from a Dutch employer, you can access Studiefinanciering;

iii. If your parent works 32 hours a month with a contract from a Dutch employer (and is resident in the Netherlands);iv:If you, your partner or your parent is an independent entrepreneur and/or freelancer based in the Netherlands, works 32 hours a month, and you can prove this to the satisfaction of the Dutch government.
There are some additional conditions that you need to meet in order to be eligible for “Stufi”. You need to have the job for three months before you submit your claim for support. The support you receive will not be backdated so, unless you line up a job before you start studying, you cannot count on this support from day one. If you work you must also purchase Dutch health insurance. Ordinarily you can survive the first year of living in the Netherlands with a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) from the British government. If you work, you will need full health insurance. The cost of this insurance is usually around €90 a month but you can claim back around €70 of this. You also need to work 32 hours a month, 12 months a year. This financial assistance is provided on the basis of your residential status in the Netherlands and not your student status.
How does Collegegeldkrediet work?
This is the tuition fee loan component of Dutch student financial support. It consists of a loan to cover the tuition fees for your course. In 2013 this will typically be €1,835. The loan is paid directly into your bank account in monthly instalments of €147.58 (2012-the precise figure for 2013 is not yet publically available) and it is your responsibility to pay the university.
Some universities request payment in full for the whole year, or at the start of each semester. This can mean that you have to pay the fees before you receive the loan which may have a temporary impact on your cashflow.
You have to pay interest on Collegegeldkrediet and this is applied from the day you take out the loan. The current interest rate is 1.39%.
There is a two year interval after graduation before you start repaying your loan. The loan must be repaid in full over a maximum of 15 years and there is no mechanism for it to be written off automatically after that time. DUO will calculate the rate of repayment. The minimum monthly repayment is €45.41 but this can be reduced at the discretion of the Dutch government. You will have to repay the loan in full even if you do not complete your degree or if you leave the country.
Assuming you take out Collegegeldkrediet for a three-year undergraduate degree, the total you are likely to owe upon graduation is around €6,000 (£5,000).
You can only apply for Collegegeldkrediet once you have a confirmed offer from a Dutch higher education institution. Your offer will only be confirmed once you have received your A’ level results. For most students this means you cannot apply until just before you start your course. As a result, it is quite common for the loan to come through after you have had to pay the first instalment of the fees.
You can apply for the loan at any point up to 31st January in the year for which you wish to claim.
The current application form is here.
For more information
How does Studiefinanciering work?
There are three components to Studiefinanciering (Stufi):

1. The basic grant
The basic grant is a fixed amount payable to all Dutch students and those who meet the requirements outlined above. In 2012-2013 students who live with their parents (unlikely for British students) receive €95.61 per month. Students who live away from the family home receive €266.23. You must be registered as a resident with the relevant local authority in order to receive this funding. This is a grant, not a loan.
2. The supplementary grant/loan
This means-tested element takes your family’s income into consideration in the same way as financial aid for students in the United Kingdom. Depending on your family’s income you could be eligible for up to €244.60 per month as a grant. You need to provide proof of earnings, tax returns etc for the last two years in order to be considered for this. The amount you receive is calculated on a sliding scale depending on family income.
If you are not eligible for this amount as a grant, you can still get the proportion that you do not receive as a loan. The precise thresholds for the grant/loan proportion are complicated but you can count on accessing this funding, just not necessarily the way you will receive it.
There is a calculator for working out your eligibility for a grant or a loan on the DUO website here. It is only available in Dutch.
It is not clear what rate of interest the loan attracts but for repayment purposes it will be treated in exactly the same way as Collegegeldkrediet.
3. Additional loans
If after receiving these grants and loans you still require additional financial assistance you can apply for a Top-Up loan.
You can borrow up to €283.86 per month. This loan is designed to help you if you encounter additional costs during your studies, for example if you choose to study abroad during your degree. Interest will be charged on this loan at a commercial rate which will be determined at the time you complete your degree. This interest rate will be higher than that charged for the tuition fee loan.
You can only apply for Studiefinanciering once you have three months worth of payslips from a Dutch employer that prove you are eligible for it. You can find the form here. It is all in Dutch.
For further information please visit the DUO website.
What happens if you don’t repay your student loans?
Default of loan repayments is not a major problem for the Dutch government. However, any student who leaves the country with the intention of not repaying the loan will almost certainly be found if they remain within the European Union. Students will then have to pay back not just the original loan but also a punitive rate of interest. The Dutch government will also be entitled to recover the cost of tracking down defaulters. This could easily treble the overall amount of the student loan. In short, failing to take responsibility for a student loan from the Dutch government is an unwise, not to say an illegal, suggestion.
There is a mechanism in place to write off loans that students cannot repay although we do not yet have full details on how this works.