„One way or another“I’m going to enter that DUO website because I want to see that compensation NOW,” someone writes on In recent days, impatient messages from ‘unlucky generation’ students have appeared on social media. They had problems logging in to the DUO (Education Executive Agency) website, just after they had received an email that they could view the amount of their ‘allowance’ there.
They receive this compensation because they studied at a college or university between 2015 and 2023 and therefore fell under the loan system. Since the 2023-2024 academic year, students have again received a basic grant (314 euros for those living away from home, 125.99 euros for those living at home). The unlucky generation missed out and will therefore receive retroactively 34.17 euros for every month without a basic grant. Anyone who studied between 2015 and 2019 will receive an additional one-off EUR 2,097.08 if they have not yet used their ‘study voucher’, which they could use for additional training after their studies. The total amount is deducted from the student debt of the (former) student or deposited into the account if that debt has been paid off.
If, as a government, you say that you have made a mistake, you must fully correct it
Last Thursday, DUO started emailing (former) students who are entitled to the reimbursement. The system has about 600,000 cases. The messages were to be sent in batches until the beginning of this week, but DUO stopped doing so on Friday due to login problems. These have now been resolved, a spokesperson for the service said. “We are hopeful that tomorrow [dinsdag] can continue sending out the messages.”
The technical problem was probably caused by (former) students who were entitled to the compensation logging in en masse to the website. “When we had only sent about 32,000 emails, about 180,000 people had already watched. People find it very interesting. That is understandable, of course,” the spokesperson said.
Grown-up world
Spoke almost three years ago NRC five unlucky generation students, just before the House of Representatives was to discuss the amount of the new basic grant and the compensation scheme. The students were all angry, felt deprived. They should have borrowed (more) and/or worked during their studies than the generation of students just before and after them. They were concerned about their future, because as an unlucky generation they have to compete with both generations in the already overheated housing market. And they all thought it would only be fair if they were fully compensated for their missed scholarship.
How do the five students view this now? And how are they doing financially?
Now it can be politically ‘crossed off’, even though it has not been resolved at all
Beau de Vos (28) thought the government’s proposal for compensation three years ago was “laughable” (1,436 euros per student and making the study voucher freely disposable). Now she laughs at that quote. “I did have a big opinion. But I still think the same.” She would still consider full compensation the fairest. “But as a student I felt more vulnerable and I didn’t yet know what the adult world would be like. Of course, my student debt won’t just disappear, but I do feel more peace and know that things will work out.”
De Vos has a degree in art history and works as a manager in the catering industry. Hospitality work used to be a side job; It suited her so well that she stayed. She makes ends meet just fine, but she does have a “high” student loan debt (she does not want to say how high). Buying a house – she wants to continue living in expensive Amsterdam – is not an option for the time being. “So there are still some concerns. But I try not to think about it too much, because then I become petrified.” She has not yet logged in to the DUO website to view her compensation, because then she will immediately see how much interest has been added to her student debt. But she has decided that she will “plan” to pay off her student debt this month.
Also read
Five questions about the interest rate increase on student debt
New construction house
Timo van Baarsen (28) from Amstelveen did not borrow money during his economics studies. He continued to live at home and had a part-time job in a supermarket. Van Baarsen, as a student, had to forego some things because of the loan system. He therefore thought full compensation was fairest, he said last time NRC spoke to him. He had just gotten a job at a real estate company at the time.
He still works there and bought a new-build house in Amstelveen in 2022. He is still in favor of full compensation. “If you as a government say that you have made a mistake, you must fully correct it.”
What will he do with the compensation? “Probably in my new house: bathroom, kitchen, floors, curtains. That all costs quite a lot of money.”
Soesja Brunink (28), who studied civil engineering in Delft, wants to buy a house with her boyfriend, but is running into student debt. Three years ago she was already worried about her position on the housing market, she said NRC. That now appears to be correct. “We cannot buy anything, even though we are highly educated, have a good job and have been working for a few years.”
Nap
Thijn van Summeren (25) recently bought an apartment in Zeist on his own, although he also borrowed while studying. He has taken a completely different path than Brunink. He did not complete his studies in audiovisual technology and media and event management. Instead he went to work. Started working a lot, as a freelance producer and director at the radio. “Get up at three in the morning, then work from four to six, then from eight to four, come home, type a script very quickly, take a little nap and then get up again at three in the morning.” These were “not healthy working conditions”, but they did allow him to pay off his debt quickly.
Brunink’s debt is too high to pay off quickly. She had to borrow the maximum amount because she had classes almost every day from nine to five. She finds the compensation “almost a joke.” “I think: then don’t do anything. I don’t think this is even the interest that has accrued on top of my student debt. I would rather they do nothing now, so that a later government will hopefully do something better. Now it can be politically ‘crossed off’, while it has not been resolved at all.”
As a student I felt more vulnerable and I didn’t yet know what the adult world would look like
Denzel Sweeb (28) from Rotterdam does not receive any compensation at all because, like Van Summeren, he did not complete his studies (communication). He is an entrepreneur and makes ends meet just fine. But he thinks it is unfair that he does not receive the compensation. “I understand that I have to pay back my student travel allowance, but whether I have completed my studies or not, I have incurred costs.”
Yet he is not really concerned with it. “But if I had had trouble making ends meet, I think that would have been the case.”
The same applies to Timo van Baarsen, with the new-build house in Amstelveen. “At the time I really thought: well, how silly, HBO students of the same age did get a grant because they started a year earlier than university students. It always felt very unfair. Now I’m less concerned with it because of my situation. For me it’s a bit of a closed chapter. And the new generation of students is very welcome to receive the grant.”
Also read
How does the student make ends meet? ‘I don’t even want to know how much my debt is now’
