Since 2015, students have been incurring large debts in order to study. For years, the National Student Union, together with FNV Young&United, has been campaigning against this debt system under the name NietMijnSchuld (Not My Debt). One of the demands is that compensation must be provided for the unlucky generation.
In December 2021, the coalition for the new Rutte IV cabinet announced that it would allocate 1 billion euros to compensate students who studied under the loan system. This amounts to approximately 1,000 euros per student. This is in addition to the 2,000 euros for study vouchers to which you are entitled five years after completing your studies. That’s a total of 3,000 euros, but it’s still a drop in the ocean.
This has to change. First of all, it’s important that all students are compensated. That includes students who continued to live at home or worked to avoid large student debts. It also includes students who graduated before the loan system was abolished. And students who are no longer studying but still have huge debts.
The current level of compensation is far too low. Everyone should receive the money they would have been entitled to under the old basic grant system but have now lost out on. In 2015, the basic grant was €286.15. Multiply that by twelve months for four years of study, and you end up with over €13,000. That means at least €10,000 in extra compensation per student!