{"id":101593,"date":"2019-08-16T11:40:17","date_gmt":"2019-08-16T09:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=101593"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:24:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:24:24","slug":"student-debt-rises-by-5-billion-in-three-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2019\/08\/16\/student-debt-rises-by-5-billion-in-three-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Student debt rises by 5 billion in three years"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is the total student debt in the Netherlands? That depends on who you ask. One thing is certain: student debt has risen significantly since the abolition of the basic grant in 2015. Although that is also related to the growth in the number of students.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>

Take the year 2018. Did the Netherlands have a total student debt of 11.2 billion euros, as DUO claimed last year? Or was it actually 17.5 billion, according to the latest<\/a> figures\u00a0published by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) this week?<\/p>\n

It depends how you calculate it. Unlike in 2017, for example, DUO only looked at the debts of former students who still needed to repay their loan. Nor did DUO take into account the two groups of recent graduates. On the other hand, the CBS does include the loans of current students, but then without the sums that might be written off, such as the basic grant and the public transport card. The actual debt might then be even higher.<\/p>\n

In debt<\/h2>

Nevertheless, based on those figures, the total student debt has clearly risen significantly since the abolition of the basic grant. In 2015, according to the CBS, (former) students owed the government 12.7 billion euros, a sum that had risen to 17.5 billion euros in 2018. An increase of nearly 5 billion euros. However, that is also related to the growth in the total number of students, some of whom are accumulating debt.<\/p>\n