Nearly 68 percent of higher education students live at home

An increasing number of higher education students live at home with their parents. Of all the students registered at a higher education institution on January 1st this year, 67.8 percent still lived at home, compared to 60.6 percent in 2012, according to figures from education institution DUO, NU reports. The type of tertiary institution a student is studying at seems to have an effect on whether or not the student lives at home. Around 64.5 percent of university students lived away from the family home this year, in 2012 it was 71.1 percent. Among college students this figure was 46.6 percent this year and 51.9 percent in 2012. Vocational students seem to prefer living at home. Only 17.8 percent lived away from home this year and 25.8 percent in 2012. Art students mostly prefer living on their own. The Gerit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam has the most students living on their own with 88 percent. Second place is the Eindhoven Design Academy with 84.1 percent. And nearly three quarters of the students registered at the Amsterdam School of Art no longer live at home. According to NU, the higher number of students living at home can be explained by the abolition of the basic study grant in September. Now students have to take out student loans to cover all of their study expenses and the level of study financing is no longer affected by whether a student lives at home or not.