Big shifts in master fees

The editors of the Keuzegids have compiled the new fees for the coming academic year and listed them on the studie-kosten.nl website.

In most subjects, Utrecht University will be the second cheapest university after Nijmegen for ‘second master studies’. However, its fees are still not as low as those of the technical universities which charge the ordinary fee of nearly two thousand euros.

A year ago, Minister Bussemaker threatened to restrict tuition fees for second studies if universities did not clarify how they calculate their fees. Since then, little more has been heard of this proposal.

Big price differences

Since 2010, universities have been allowed to determine their own fees for students who already have a master degree. They do not receive any money from the government for these students. The only exceptions are for teacher training and healthcare programmes.

The high fees resulted in legal proceedings against universities, because it was claimed that they were charging more than necessary to cover the costs. This was also apparent from the big differences in the fees.

Those differences are still considerable. A university teacher training costs under two thousand euros in Leiden but over nineteen thousand euros at the University of Amsterdam. Legal master degrees, on the other hand, are expensive in Leiden. These cost 5.5 thousand euros less in Nijmegen.

Alpha masters much more expensive at the University of Amsterdam

In October, Utrecht University decided to repay thousands of euros to over two hundred master students from the last four years. The university could have amended the fees earlier, according to the board, but was awaiting the result of legal proceedings. It was therefore only fair to apply the new calculation retrospectively.

In Amsterdam, they apparently see things differently. There, tuition fees for alpha masters are increasing by three thousand euros. The teacher training programmes at the University of Amsterdam are rising even more dramatically: last year, the fees were only twelve thousand euros, now they are nineteen thousand.

At most other universities, the institutional tuition fees for second masters are only rising by a few percent.

Double master students pay the statutory tuition fees. They may also complete both studies for that fee.