After the massive inflation in 2022, students living away from home received an extra allowance for one year: 164 euros per month, on top of the basic grant. But in September this year, the flow of money stopped, leaving students living away from home with a 6.6 per cent loss in purchasing power, calculated the Nibud, the National Institute for Family Finance Information.
Unacceptable, said student unions, but the minister believes this is no reason to intervene. “I can imagine that students are alarmed by this loss of purchasing power, but I want to emphasise that the temporary purchasing power measure was an exceptional measure in a time of exceptionally high inflation”, Bruins wrote to the House of Representatives.
Basic grant adjusted for inflation
Moreover, the basic grant is adjusted for inflation. At the beginning of this year, Bruins stated, the grant was increased by 10 per cent. For students in higher professional education (hbo) and at university, this amounts to nearly seventy euros per month for those living away from home.
Bruins therefore sees ‘no reason’ to change the student finance policy. However, he does want to investigate why so many vocational education (MBO) students fail to claim financial support. Twelve per cent of students in levels 1 and 2 do not apply for a basic or supplementary grant, even though these are automatically gifts for them (from level 3 up to higher education, the performance grant is only a gift if students graduate within ten years).
“Students living at home are missing out on around five hundred euros per month, while those living away from home are missing out on as much as eight hundred euros”, Bruins wrote. “I find this very concerning, but I do not yet have an explanation for it.”
Distrust
Over the past few years, this ‘non-usage’ among vocational students has even increased, Bruins wrote. “It is possible that a lack of knowledge about the student finance system or distrust in the government plays a role here.” He has commissioned an investigation into the matter.
Distrust could indeed be a factor among vocational students. Not only were many lower- and secondary-educated people affected by the childcare benefits scandal, but DUO’s unjustified fraud investigations also primarily targeted students in vocational education.
