So you think that a fifty euro increase in tuition fees every year is worth protesting? Think again, but this time from an international student’s perspective!
Tuition ranging between six and fifteen thousand per year, plus all the living expenses, diminishing study grant possibilities, limit to work only ten hours per week, as well as substantial increases in student residence permit fees have put international students between a rock and a hard place.
Higher Fees ≠ Bad
Thomas Snuverink, the STAR chairman, looks at this from a different perspective. “An increase in tuition fee is not always a negative thing. It means that there is more money available for better education. Nonetheless, education should be available for everyone and your financial position should not be a barrier for your education. However, determining a fee is something that the University and its faculties arrange and when they do this, you can be sure that they will take a lot of factors in consideration.”
“Education is Important”
Tung Tung Chan is a second year Malaysian student and is quite happy that the tuition fee didn’t go up this year. “To be honest it’s actually quite cheap as compared to other higher institutions in the U.S. and U.K., after all Erasmus University Rotterdam is one of the prestigious universities in the world. However, I do hope it will not increase in the coming years, because I would never be able to manage it on my own. My parents sacrifice their entire pension for my tuition fees and living expenses, and I would never quit the study because education is very important.”
The Positive Side
The official Study In Holland website highlights, “International education in the highest level has its price”. In the end, it is up to the international students themselves to do most of the work financing their studies, and jump for joy that they aren’t studying medicine in the University of Groningen (costing a whopping 32,000 euros annually)! Besides, as Thomas Snuverink notes, “there are a lot of scholarships, fundraisers and other institutes to get financial support from if you are a talented student in a financially underprivileged position.” MD
