{"id":160426,"date":"2023-10-27T15:34:37","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T13:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=160426"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:01","slug":"house-of-representatives-decreases-interest-on-loans-for-unlucky-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/10\/27\/house-of-representatives-decreases-interest-on-loans-for-unlucky-students\/","title":{"rendered":"House of Representatives decreases interest on loans for \u2018unlucky students\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A majority of the House of Representatives wants students who were under the loan system to start paying less interest on their study debts. How much less, and when this would take effect, is not yet clear. A proposal to bring the interest down to zero didn\u2019t make it.<\/p>\n

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The Dutch Parliament.<\/span><\/p>

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It came as a nasty surprise to many former and current students that the interest on their loans increased from 0 to 0.46 percent this year, with plans for a further increase to 2.56 percent next year. As they hadn\u2019t received the basic student grant, they had already borrowed more money than previous generations of students and would now be facing an interest rise on top of that.<\/p>\n

Expats<\/h2>

Several political parties were willing to meet the students belonging to the \u2018bad luck generation\u2019 in the middle. MP Pieter Omtzigt proposed<\/a> to decrease their interest and pay for this by cutting back the tax advantage for expats. The amendment he submitted got the majority vote in the House last night. The amendment was co-submitted by GroenLinks, PvdA, ChristenUnie and Volt.<\/p>\n

It is not clear yet how exactly this will affect the students. According to Omtzigt, the gradual reduction of the expat scheme will save the treasury 3 million euros in 2025, rising to 194 million euros in 2029 and beyond. These savings will be used \u201cin their entirety\u201d to lower the interest paid by the bad luck generation. But the exact percentage and date of effect are not stated in the legislative amendment.<\/p>\n

Freeze<\/h2>

An ample majority of the House supported the motion<\/a> by GroenLinks urging the government to take a step back and \u2013 in anticipation of a legislative amendment \u2013 freeze the interest for loan system students in 2024 to 0.46 percent. The resulting costs are to be covered by the expat scheme reduction proposed by Omtzigt. Incidentally, the latter voted against the motion because he isn\u2019t sure his plan will yield enough funds.<\/p>\n

Minister Dijkgraaf told<\/a> the House this week that \u2013 calculated over the course of 35 years \u2013 it will cost around 9 billion euros to bring the interest for loan system students down to zero.<\/p>\n

The amendment<\/a> by D66 and SP to adjust the interest for all loan system students down to zero percent was only supported by GroenLinks, PvdA, Volt, Denk, PvdD and Bij1. The initiators wanted to finance the legislative amendment by increasing the VAT on flowers and plants and on tap water for large-scale consumers. This was to bring in 500 million euros per year.<\/p>\n

Dutch National Students\u2019 Association chair Demi Janssen is disappointed the zero percent proposal didn\u2019t make it. \u201cNow it\u2019s important not to let students hanging and to give them financial security.\u201d The freezing of the interest should in any case go ahead as planned, ISO thinks, also if this requires extra coverage.<\/p>\n\n\t

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