News item | 01-03-2024 | 2:05 PM
There has been indirect discrimination during DUO’s inspections of the non-resident grant for students. Students who lived in neighborhoods with a high number of residents with a migration background were more likely to be checked. Minister Dijkgraaf of Education, Culture and Science wrote this today in a letter to the House of Representatives, based on research by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The government apologizes for this. No direct discrimination was found during the audit process: data relating to origin, such as migration background, played no role.
Minister Dijkgraaf: “As a government, we have failed to set up and implement the supervision of the non-resident grant. Specific groups of students, such as students with a migration background and MBO students, were therefore checked disproportionately more often. This should not have happened and I apologize for this on behalf of the entire cabinet.”
Painful observations
Students who qualify for student loans can receive more money if they live away from home than if they live with their parents. In 2009 it turned out that the non-resident grant was being abused. Controls were therefore tightened in 2012. The PwC research now shows that students who live in neighborhoods with many residents with a migration background were more likely to be checked. This follows from how the system was set up in 2012 by OCW and DUO, says PwC, which lacked proper substantiation and failed to maintain and correct the system. Moreover, signals indicating that prejudice was a risk were not adequately addressed. Minister Dijkgraaf finds these painful observations, which he, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and DUO are very concerned about. He emphasizes that the management of OCW and DUO were responsible for this.
Selection process
According to PwC, there are a number of reasons why the selection system has led to indirect discrimination. One of these is the selection process in which, for example, students who lived closer to their parents had a higher chance of being selected for control, while CBS research shows that children of parents with a migration background often continue to live closer. The higher chance of control for this group of students increased further in the poorly validated selection process. MBO students were also assigned a higher risk score than HBO and WO students. The reason for this at the time was that MBO courses are often closer to home than HBO and university courses. Between 2015 and 2023, mainly MBO students were checked, because the non-resident grant for HBO and WO students was abolished with the introduction of the loan system in 2015. This means that in practice the frequency with which MBO students, younger students and students living close to their parents were checked was higher than could be validated on the basis of the research. Minister Dijkgraaf: “I find that a sad observation, especially since an important principle for me is that students in different forms of education have an equal position.”
Succession
The minister apologizes and talks to (former) students who have been checked. OCW and DUO speak with students, deans, student representatives and also a group of controlled students themselves to jointly consider the effect of the home visits on them. The minister also believes it is crucial that lessons are learned from the research, resulting in a professional, unbiased and effective control system that actively responds to signals. We will continue to work on this in the coming period. All implementation processes within OCW are also thoroughly examined to determine whether there could be indirect discrimination. DUO has now taken the necessary actions. Since June 2023, the audit process has temporarily taken place exclusively by means of a random (random) sample. All home visits are evaluated. Students are called before DUO sends them a decision after an inspection. DUO is also investigating whether other forms of control are possible.
Students who want to discuss these recent conclusions with DUO can get in touch in various ways via www.duo.nl. DUO is happy to talk to them.
Result for students
Between 2012 and 2023, approximately 26,800 students had a home visit. Abuse has been found in roughly a third of these. PwC has not conducted a file review and does not make any statements about the legality of individual decisions. PwC does indicate that the higher chance of a home visit over all these years has generally not led to a disproportionately higher chance of discontinuing the non-resident grant for the students who were checked. In the near future, further research will be conducted into the extent to which disproportionate distinction was present in different parts of the audit process. This does not alter the fact that PwC found that the selection of students for an abuse check was biased towards neighborhoods with a high proportion of residents with a migration background and students with a traditionally non-Dutch sounding surname.