Lower tuition fees for Ukrainian refugees and students who already studied here

Ukrainian students will receive a discount on their tuition fees in the coming academic year. They will pay the ‘Dutch’ tuition fee of 2,209 euros instead of the much higher institutional fee. This arrangement was previously announced nationally and now the Executive Board has definitively established it.

Normally, a higher fee applies to students from outside the European Economic Area, and therefore also to Ukrainian students. This amount differs per programme but is a minimum of €9,900 per year.

Specifically eligible are ‘students who have fled from Ukraine with a displaced person status on the basis of the European Temporary Protection Directive (this includes so-called third-country nationals) and students from Ukraine who at the time of the outbreak of the war were studying at one of the fourteen public Dutch universities and are currently still residing in the Netherlands’, says EUR spokesperson Rateb Abawi.

Largest number at EUR

This year, 88 Ukrainian students are studying at the Erasmus University, which is more than at any other Dutch university. The discount does not apply to Russian students. However, they can still apply to the already existing emergency fund for students who get into financial difficulties because of the war.

It is still unclear who will bear the costs of the discount offered: the university or the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). The ministry hasn’t promised yet to pick up the bill, but the university expects that it will soon. However, the EUR did not want to wait any longer. “We want to offer clarity to these students now, regardless of the contribution of OCW.”

Emergency fund supplemented

Apart from the tuition fee reduction, there are also resources made available from the emergency fund. The EUR wants to supplement that fund with up to 85,000 euro. On the website of the university there’s more information about the reduction of tuition fees, the emergency fund and other information for students affected by the war.