Extra funding for higher education does not keep pace with inflation

The government is planning a small cut to higher education after all. Universities of applied sciences and research universities will receive slightly less money to offset inflation.

This month, the government presented next year’s national budget, including extra spending on education and research. But some of this will be taken away after all, an explanation of the budget shows.

The extra funding will not keep pace with inflation. This is stated in answers to ‘factual questions’ that the House of Representatives has asked about the budget, so that it can be well informed when debating the government’s financial choices.

Wages and prices

One of those choices is that, over the next two years, the government will withhold the ‘wage and price adjustment’ for the extra funding agreed in the coalition agreement. The extra funding for the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science will therefore also not keep pace with inflation.

Inflation means that everything becomes more expensive, from groceries to fuel and from rent to electricity. Salaries therefore rise too. The education sector will now have to absorb some of this increase itself.

Education will receive about one billion euros more next year, and 1.2 billion euros the year after. With inflation at 3 per cent, this means a shortfall of around 67 million euros over the next two years.

The government is legally required to adjust funding for primary and secondary education for inflation, but not for vocational and higher education. The previous government thought it was not a good idea to change this. Vocational education, universities of applied sciences and research universities will therefore have to absorb the cut.

Spring

This concerns the extra funding. What will happen to the overall education budget? The government will not decide until the spring. Sometimes funding does not keep pace with inflation, for example when the ministry has to cover unexpected costs. In higher education, this amounts to tens of millions of euros.