Proposal to legalise ‘Exam fine’

In early 2014, there was some commotion about the administrative fees many educational institutions were charging students for registering too late for a test. In one case, a law student in Leiden had to cough up 225 euro because she forgot to register on a few occasions. Legally, this kind of ‘fine’ is not permitted, but many programmes issue such fines as a way of urging students to register on time.

The alternative isn’t much better. If you’re late registering, you can’t sit for the exam, and you could possibly end up with a study delay of months. This is because closing registration for an exam at a certain point is permitted. Otherwise, say the institutions, it becomes difficult to accurately determine how many students actually show up for an exam.

Compromise

Following Parliamentary questions and criticism from student organisations, the Minister of Education at the time, Bussemaker, met with the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU), the Dutch National Student Association (DSNA) and the Dutch National Union of Students (LSVb). They reached a compromise in October 2014. Universities and universities of applied sciences would be permitted to charge students registering too late for an exam a maximum of twenty euro. Six months later, Bussemaker announced that she also wanted to make this a statutory option.

The legislative proposal has encountered some delays, but after four years, it can now be consulted online. Everyone can provide feedback, and if the proposal passes, the new arrangement will come into effect on 1 January 2021.