Beeld: Shutterstock The government sees many students falling back in their studies. Thus, all higher education students who graduate this academic year will be reimbursed for 535 euros, the equivalent of 3 months tuition.
Minister Van Engelshoven just announced this provision. The reimbursement applies to university students who obtain their master’s degree, and all university college students who obtain a degree of any kind.
If they lose their right to a supplementary grant in these months (until and including 31 August,) students will also receive compensation in the amount of 1500 euros. All relevant information is posted on the DUO website (links to Dutch content).
No proof needed
This is a generic provision. Students are not required to prove their delay (if they even have a delay) is the result of the corona crisis. Having to assess each individual case would cause too much fuss, so the ministry has decided to simply compensate all students at once.
There is also no need to apply for financial support. DUO will check which students meet the requirements, and transfer the money.
The cabinet has earmarked 135 million euros for this round of compensation, in addition to the 200 million that was previously made available. Similar provisions have been made for the students in secondary vocational education, but for different sums—student grants and tuition fees are different for secondary education.
Helping hand
Although the Interstedelijk Studenten Overleg student union is happy there is a compensation, they would have prefered a higher amount, they state in an initial reaction (links to Dutch content). ‘A student living in student housing is set back by about a thousand euro’s for every month delay’, says ISO chair Dahran Çoban. ‘If you fall back three months, this compensation doesn’t even cover your tuition fees.’
Last week, several political parties called on the cabinet to consider (links to Dutch content) extra compensation for students. The corona-compensation is available to students in their final year only. The government has no plans to make funds available for students in other years, Minister Van Engelshoven stated (links to Dutch content) last year. After all, they may well be able to catch up in the course of their studies.
