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Slow student fine: students overjoyed, university dismayed

Students are overjoyed that the slow student fine may be swept off the table eventually. The university however feels cheated.

‘This is fantastic news. That monster of a regulation will finally be reversed,’ is the initial response from VeSte member Wouter Jan van Roosmalen. ‘Students have been breaking their backs in the past year to do something and got incredibly worked up about the fine, but that was all for nothing.’ The university however is less pleased about the imminent removal, admits Simon Vink. ‘The slow student fine for students was linked to an efficiency cut for universities, of about 200 million euros. Part of this cut would be recoverable via the Halbe fine, but this is not stated in the interim agreement. It’s likely that we will just lose that money.’

Handled

Vink feels that the politicians have handled the situation with students and universities shabbily, to put it mildly. ‘They didn’t take us seriously. I feel that it’s ridiculous, given the many occasions both in the Senate and in the Lower House when this regulation could have been stopped, that it will now be got rid of without proper consideration how to do so or any idea what would replace it. It’s not even sure whether its abolition will benefit students.’ VeSte shares these worries. ‘We are overjoyed on the one hand, but on the other hand, we know that something else will be introduced to make up for the shortfall. We hope that the politicians have by now learned not to introduce regulations too hastily.’

Stick

The university has done a lot of preparation to implement the regulation, says Vink. ‘There aren’t many problems eventually during the implementation, and it looks like more students have graduated this year.’ Speaking for VeSte, Anneriek Simons says that the slow student fine does not act as a financial stick. ‘It was a regulation which touched on students’ aspirations.’

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