Number of people with study debts decreased for first time in years
The number of people in the Netherlands with study debts decreased slightly compared to last year - the first decrease since 2011, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported on Wednesday. Fewer students applied for loans due to the reintroduction of the basic study grant in the past academic year. The average amount of student loans and the number of people with high study debts are still on the rise.
At the start of 2024 over 1.6 million people in the Netherlands had a student loan. “After increasing in recent years, there was a slight decrease in 2024 for the first time since 2011,” CBS said.
Despite that decrease, the average student debt was again higher than the year before. “Since the introduction of the student loan system in 2015, the average student debt has increased by 5,400 to 17,800 euros at the beginning of this year,” CBS said.
The number of people with high student debt also increased. This year, almost 350,000 students and former students owed more than 30,000 euros on their student loans. That is 19,000 more than in 2023 and 233,000 more than in 2015.
Nearly 140,000 people still owed at least 50,000 euros on their student loans, and 1,700 owed over 100,000 euros.
The total student debt in the Netherlands amounted to 29 billion euros at the start of 2024. That is 1 billion euros more than last year and double the debt amount in 2015, when the basic grant was scrapped and the loan system was introduced.
