Student organizations demand more investment in higher education

When the basic study grant was abolished, the government promised that the money saved would be invested in education. The government is failing to live up to that promise, according to student organizations ISO and LSVB, RTL Nieuws reports.

According to the organizations, in the year 2000 the government spent nearly 20 thousand euros for each student at university. In 2025 that amount will be only 14,300 euros. There is also a decline for students attending colleges. 

On Monday the organizations sent an urgent letter to the four political parties currently negotiating on forming the new Dutch government together - the VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks. The letter is signed by various student organizations. It reads: "The Netherlands wants to sit ringside for a dime. We must belong to the top of the knowledge economy, we need to produce Nobel prize winners, attract the best student talent internationally, and so on. But the government forgets that all these demands require investments."

"This must end now. After years of cutbacks, we can't take any more blows", ISO president Jan Sinnige said to the broadcaster.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Education told AD that the student organizations' calculations are wrong because they are based on the incorrect figures.