Judge reprimands DUO for careless decision about Iranian student

Does it take you more than ten years to finish your studies? Then your performance grant becomes a loan. But personal circumstances should be taken into account. In the case of an Iranian student, DUO did that insufficiently, a judge ruled.

The student emigrated from Iran to the Netherlands and began a programme at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences in 2008, for which she received student finance. She didn’t complete that programme, but later decided to start a new higher professional education programme, for which she did obtain her diploma.

However, she wasn’t able to manage to get the diploma within the maximum period of ten years, so her performance grant was converted into a loan. The student turned to DUO: could her diploma period perhaps be extended by three years because of her personal circumstances? Or could her performance grant still be forgiven?

DUO rejected both requests. According to the agency, the student simply hadn’t obtained her diploma within the diploma period and, moreover, she had herself decided not to finish her first programme.

Careless

The judge rules now, however, that this decision is insufficiently carefully reasoned: “The decision does not make clear which assessment was made exactly and on what assessment framework that was applied”, the judgment says.

According to the judge, the situation of the Iranian student can’t be compared with that of a student who grew up in the Netherlands. For example, when she started her studies she didn’t speak Dutch yet and she also didn’t have a social network. In addition, she suffered from health problems.

Reassess

It also counts in her favour that the student ultimately did ‘successfully complete a programme and is now working in a field that aligns with her interests and ambitions’ . And so DUO must set the old decision aside and reassess her request.