Organisation - June 23, 2011
Students deeper in debt
The government's share in financing students' university education has fallen considerably. The measures being taken by Mark Rutte's Cabinet will make studying at university even more expensive.
According to ISO, a striking result in the report is the increase in the number of current or former students with a loan or debts. The number of students taking out a loan on top of the performance-linked grant grew from 62,200 in 2003 to 102,500 in 2009. In the same period, the number of former students with long-term debts grew from 49,378 to 86,894. As a consequence the average amount owed has also risen substantially, from 7,939 euros in 2003 to 12,523 euros in 2009.
The organization has calculated how much former students spend on paying off their student loans: borrowing 426 euros a month from DUO for four years results in a debt of 20,490 euros, and repayment means paying 4.3 percent of your salary for fifteen years.
The measures being taken by Mark Rutte's Cabinet will make studying even more expensive: take the decision to replace the basic grant by an interest-bearing loan in the Master's phase. That will mean an extra debt of 2,295 euros for every year spent in the Master's phase. Repayment over fifteen years would reduce purchasing power by an additional 0.5 percent.