Give students an extra year of study as a gift

Give students an extra year of study as a gift

Studying in times of Covid is not what it should be: so can’t the Dutch Government give young people an extra year of study as a gift? That is what the chairmen of the boards of the Christian University of Applied Sciences Ede and Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences are advocating.

Chairman of the Board Jan Hol of the CHE makes his appeal in an open letter to Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Students suffer greatly from the crisis, he writes. They are delayed, perform less well, are less cheerful and are worried about their future.

Donation

‘Know, Mark, that we are doing everything we can to guide our students in the best possible way,’ the letter states. ‘But what we cannot do is give them more financial air and space during their studies.’

Hol points out that Rutte himself was able to study for no less than seven years at taxpayers’ expense. He therefore proposes to give the current generation of young people an extra year of study, thanks to a ‘donation’ from finance minister Wopke Hoekstra. Then they can study for five years instead of four, he writes. ‘Still two years less than your time at Leiden University.’

Student organisations and political parties have been calling for financial compensation for students since the beginning of the corona crisis. From the government, only graduates will receive 535 euros in compensation this academic year. This amount equals three months of tuition fees. (HOP, Evelien Flink)