This has been averted. Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf believes that the annual increase should be less vulnerable to drastic fluctuations in the inflation rate. His proposed solution is to base the increase on the annual average rate of inflation.
That is why the tuition fee will increase by only 105 euros rather than 212 next year, according to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. This increase is still considerable, but less than feared.
Groceries and energy
“The Minister acknowledges and understands students’ concerns about the rising cost of essentials like groceries and energy”, the Ministry said in a statement. The main reason for making this decision was not to reduce the squeeze on students’ wallets. It is intended as a technical improvement, ‘irrespective of any measures that might have an impact on students’ purchasing power’.
Because of the rocketing inflation, the Higher Education Press Agency predicted in the spring that the tuition fee would rise dramatically. Various opposition parties argued for a tuition fee freeze, but the governing coalition decided otherwise.
Even so, Minister Dijkgraaf was not indifferent to criticism regarding the increase. In his address to the House of Representatives, he said he wanted to limit the increase to around 50 to 60 euros but needed more time to consider. He did not commit to any specifics.
No 50 percent discount
In related news, the tuition fee discount for first-year students (and second-year students of teacher-training programmes) will be scrapped in September 2024. From then on, they will need to pay the full amount rather than half.
This is a trade-off: eliminating the discount will enable a slight increase in the basic student grant and let more students qualify for a supplementary grant. The basic student grant will be reintroduced in September 2023.
