News - November 29, 2012

Scrapping of basis grant postponed

Loan system

It will be at least seven months before it is clear how the cabinet is going to go about scrapping the basic grant and limiting the supplementary grant. This was revealed in minister Jet Bussemaker's answers to questions in parliament. The cabinet will only table proposed legal changes in the lower house of parliament 'in the second half of 2013', although the new system is supposed to go into effect from September 2014.
If the lower house votes in favour, the question is whether the proposal for a loans system will be put to the upper house. The cabinet does not have a majority in the senate and most members of the opposition are against. There is a fair chance, then, that the introduction of the loans system will be delayed. See also page 12: ex-students on their student debts.