{"id":122259,"date":"2021-02-01T11:51:56","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T10:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=122259"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:22","slug":"how-the-hundreds-of-millions-of-euros-from-the-basic-student-grant-evaporated-within-five-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2021\/02\/01\/how-the-hundreds-of-millions-of-euros-from-the-basic-student-grant-evaporated-within-five-years\/","title":{"rendered":"How the hundreds of millions of euros from the basic student grant evaporated within five years"},"content":{"rendered":"

The hundreds of millions that the abolition of the basic student grant would generate each year was to be used in full to improve education. That was the promise made by Minister Bussemaker back in 2015. However, due to shady promises, rising student numbers and a fainthearted minister, it remains to be seen whether students will actually ever receive a better education, according to research by Erasmus Magazine<\/em> and others.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRueben Millenaar<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The hundreds of millions that are being freed up by the abolition of the basic student grant have \u2013 as yet -not led to education been given on a smaller scale with greater personal attention, as was promised to students five years ago. Our research shows that owing to the rapid growth in the number of students, the student population at most universities and some universities of applied sciences is outpacing the number of teaching staff. This is remarkable, because when the loan system was introduced, it was feared that the number of students would actually decline.<\/p>\n

Iniquitous incentive <\/h2>

This growth is partly caused by the fact that the budget allocated to universities of applied sciences is largely dependent on the number of students that they have. Recruiting a lot of students means that a university or hogeschool<\/em> (university of applied science) receives a larger share of the budget for higher education, but because that budget is not increased proportionately, the amount that universities of applied sciences receive per student becomes ever smaller. Moreover, as a result of the launch of English-language programmes for the international market, there are hardly any limits to the growth in the number of students nowadays.<\/p>\n