Cabinet temporarily increasing basic study grant due to inflation

The Cabinet will temporarily increase the basic study grant for secondary- and higher education students living away from home next academic year to also compensate them for the high inflation. The government will officially announce the measure on Budget Day on Tuesday, sources close to the Cabinet told NOS.

Students living away from home will get an additional 165 euros per month, on top of the approximately 280 euros per month stated in previous government plans, for the 2023/2024 academic year. The measure will cost about 500 million euros, according to the broadcaster’s sources.

The measure will only be implemented in September 2023 because that is when the basic study grant will be re-introduced. Budget institute Nibud previously warned that the amounts in the government’s plans wouldn’t be enough for students whose parents earn up to 1.5 times the average income. They would still have to take out loans to get by. The additional 165 euros per month should help with that.

The increase will only apply for one year because the Cabinet hopes inflation will decrease again in the long run. It won’t apply to students living at home with their parents because the coalition parties believe the parents receive sufficient purchasing power support through other measures.

VVD, CDA, D66, and ChristenUnie also assume that students with a job will also benefit from the proposed 10 percent increase in the minimum wage. The increased health care allowance also applies to students.

The basic study grant was replaced by the student loan system in 2015. On Thursday, Statistics Netherlands reported that the total student debt has doubled to 25.7 billion euros since then. At the start of this year, the average student debt was 16,000 euros, 3,500 euros higher than in 2015.