{"id":182422,"date":"2025-10-09T13:48:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T11:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=182422"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:56","slug":"studenten-zweven-nog-na-eigen-verkiezingsdebat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2025\/10\/09\/studenten-zweven-nog-na-eigen-verkiezingsdebat\/","title":{"rendered":"Students still undecided after ‘their own’ election debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

They’re definitely going to vote, said students at a lively election debate in Amsterdam about vocational and higher education. But even afterwards, many still didn’t know which party to vote for.<\/p>\n

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The student election debate took place in Amsterdam.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

Should the basic grant be increased? Should all students receive an internship allowance? And should the government have a say in young people\u2019s choice of study?<\/p>\n

These were the questions debated on Wednesday evening during \u2018The student decides\u2019, a special election debate for students in vocational education (mbo), universities of applied sciences (hbo) and research universities (wo). Around three hundred to four hundred students attended the event in the auditorium of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

Six parties took part in the debate: governing party VVD and opposition parties CDA, D66, GroenLinks-PvdA, SP and JA21. BBB and PVV were also invited but declined to attend.<\/p>\n

Basic grant<\/h2>

Students in the audience were invited to share their views on various statements by sitting or standing. Almost all agreed that the basic grant should be increased. D66, SP and GroenLinks-PvdA support this too. SP even wants to go further by eventually abolishing tuition fees altogether.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018Housing costs are sky-high and you can\u2019t even do your weekly shop properly anymore\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

But CDA, VVD and JA21 take a different view. The causes of students\u2019 financial difficulties go beyond the basic grant, said Harmen Krul of the CDA: \u201cHousing costs are sky-high and you can\u2019t even do your weekly shop properly anymore.\u201d He\u2019d prefer to address those issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cLowering rent for student rooms is a good idea\u201d, said Jan Paternotte of D66, \u201cbut we haven\u2019t managed that yet.\u201d That\u2019s why he still wants to increase the grant (which was already raised temporarily under the previous cabinet) and also make housing benefit available for student rooms.<\/p>\n

According to Cynthia Gordijn, candidate for JA21, the real solution is to reduce the number of international students coming to the Netherlands. That way, Dutch students would be more likely to find affordable rooms, she argued.<\/p>\n

Internship allowance<\/h2>

Mikal Tseggai of GroenLinks-PvdA repeatedly highlighted the issue of internship allowances, a point that clearly struck a chord. One student shared how he works early mornings at Albert Heijn and then does an unpaid internship in education during the day. According to Tseggai, an internship allowance should be made mandatory.<\/p>\n

Queeny Rajkowski of the VVD agrees that everyone should<\/em> get an internship allowance, \u2018but we shouldn\u2019t make it a legal requirement\u2019. There are exceptions, she explained. Some businesses are struggling financially. If a baker has to supervise a trainee, it costs time and effort. If that baker also has to pay the trainee, he might simply stop offering internships.<\/p>\n

Naturally, Tseggai doesn\u2019t want to cause problems for such small businesses, she replied. That\u2019s why her party, together with the CDA, proposed a public-private internship fund: a pot of money for such cases.<\/p>\n

Other topics discussed included government budget cuts, discrimination against vocational students, and free choice of study for young people. Strikingly, no one mentioned the pro-Palestinian protests currently taking place at universities.<\/p>\n

Reactions<\/h2>

Afterwards, a public administration student said the debate hadn\u2019t exactly increased his faith in politics: \u201cThere\u2019s always something to be said for each side, and then they start attacking each other personally. That\u2019s a big issue for me: I need to have confidence in order to vote. And they just never seem to work things out.\u201d He\u2019s leaning towards the VVD but also believes an internship allowance should be mandatory.<\/p>\n

A clinical psychology student said she\u2019s now \u2018a little less undecided\u2019 than before. \u201cI\u2019m nearly finished with my degree, so a higher basic grant wouldn\u2019t benefit me personally. But I think about others too. That\u2019s why I support it.\u201d She also sees internship allowances as important: \u201cIt really highlights the gap between rich and poor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018I really feel like I have to get involved now\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

A physics and chemistry student from Utrecht, active for GroenLinks-PvdA, thought it was a great debate. \u201cThere was a real battle of ideas. Of course I valued my own party\u2019s position on internship allowances. But you have to stay critical too. The VVD really emphasised the economic realities around internship pay. That\u2019s something you need to take seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another student, who doesn\u2019t rent a room herself, said she hadn\u2019t realised how expensive it had become. \u201cI found that really interesting.\u201d She appreciated the fact that the politicians were empathising with students. \u201cWe have to do that too. We need to understand mbo students and students living in rented rooms. I\u2019m not just voting for my own wallet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some students had voted before. One 22-year-old said: \u201cI didn\u2019t think much about it last time, I just filled in one of those voting guides. But now so much is at stake. I\u2019ve only just started my degree and I can already feel how much depends on it. This current cabinet thinks completely different than me. I really feel like I have to get involved now.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was also the message Harmen Krul of the CDA gave the audience in his closing words: go vote, because if you don\u2019t get involved in politics, politics will get involved with you.<\/p>\n\t

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The debate \u2018The student decides\u2019 is an initiative by student organisations LSVb, ISO and JOBmbo, together with the umbrella organisations for vocational, applied and academic education.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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