Bike campaign against interest on student debt

Biking campaign against interest on student debt

 

 

Dozens of students cycled through the city centre of The Hague on Monday 7 November to protest against rising interest rates on study debts. Near the Parliament, they shouted slogans and handed over a petition that has been signed almost 112 thousand times. 

 

 

 

Some 150 cyclists “disrupted traffic”, according to the Landelijke Studentenvakbond (LSVb) and FNV Young & United, which organised the protest. In a video, the protesters cycle through the city centre carrying flags while ringing their bike bells and chanting, “Interest at zero, interest at zero!”

 

Yet Education Minister Dijkgraaf is not going to stop the rise in interest rates. The economic situation is changing and therefore interest rates are also changing. There is no question of new policy, is his contention. The zero per cent interest rate, in place since 2017, was exceptional.
 

“For students, that means nothing,” LSVb president Joram van Velzen responds. “They just feel it in their wallets. Their debts are getting higher.” And that, he says, is something politicians can do something about. (HOP, BB)
 

 

– Also read: TU Delft student comes up with trick to avoid high student loan interest