BM 67 – Oppose the abolishment of Dutch student grants
The European Students’ Union (ESU) calls upon the Dutch Senate to undo a proposal by the Dutch government to abolish student grants and introduce a loan scheme. The proposal has already been accepted by the House of Representatives. ESU believes that by introducing this loan scheme the accessibility of the Dutch higher education is at stake. Education should be equally accessible to all students, regardless of their socio-economic background.
The student grants (~€280 per month) makes Dutch higher education (although including tuition fees of ~€2.000 per year) fairly accessible, regardless of the income of parents. Now that the government has plans to discard these grants, students will have to take loans to complete their studies. They will end up with great(er) debts, or maybe will not even start their studies, because of the fear for these debts.
