Nieuws - 14 mei 2011

No extra payment for fulltime student executives

The university will not help students financially if they get fined for taking too long in their studies due to serving a year as student executives. This is the result of talks between the student council and the executive board.

The executive board of the university feels that the cost-cutting round has done its fair share by leaving the FOS (financial support for students) fund intact. This fund gives money to student executives from big student organizations to compensate for the study delay. The university claims that there is really no money available elsewhere.
Halbe-fine
Student executives of student organizations - such as the student council, big student societies and the sports society - stop studying for a year to carry out their executive tasks fulltime. These fulltime executives will therefore take longer to graduate. In addition, the so-called Halbe fine for tardy students will be imposed on them, which can amount to three thousand euros.
Special reserve
Since it would not be possible to get reimbursement for the Halbe fine from the FOS, the student council asked its members to agree to increase the current compensation for fulltime executives by creating a special reserve within the FOS. But the members rejected this appeal as they fear, among other things, that this would jeopardize the financial compensation for other organizations.
1000 euros
Therefore, the student council approached the executive board to absorb a thousand euros of the study delay fine. In total, an amount of 60,000 euros would be needed. The student council feels that the amount is a small one, especially when viewed In the light of the reimbursement which students get in the two-year Masters in Social Sciences, which is ten times as much. The students are trying to think of other ways, but fear that they have exhausted all avenues.