The Dam in Amsterdam was filled this afternoon with hundreds of students who campaigned for a wider study grant and compensation for the group of people who are now studying or who have had to deal with the loan system in recent years.
The current loan system that was introduced in September 2015 will disappear. The basic grant will return in the 2023/2024 academic year, but the demonstrators do not agree with the study grant announced by the cabinet. This concerns 110 euros for students living at home and 274 euros for students living away from home. “That is too low for students to make ends meet,” says president of the National Student Union Ama Boahene. In addition, the demonstrators are dissatisfied with the more than 1,400 euros in compensation that the so-called ‘bad luck generation’ is offered. “Much too little.”
The hundreds of attendees carried signs with texts such as ‘stress level higher than my student debt’ and ‘no shit compensation for the bad luck generation’. Protesters talk about their student debts of 30,000, 40,000 or even 50,000 euros.
A young person who has not yet studied for a year says: “I am only in the first year and I already have a student debt of 10,000 euros.” Another has previously stopped his studies because of the high costs: “I don’t know yet whether I will study again or not. I had stopped and thought it would look good again, but it seems that it is not smart to to go to college in 2023. It is unaffordable.” Another protester says: “I want my student debt forgiven, because this is not my fault.”
Sylvana Simons of BIJ1 and Lilian Marijnissen of the SP were also present at Dam Square. “I’m here to support the students,” says Marijnissen. “The loan system is a completely failed political experiment. It is then only fair that you compensate the generation that is the victim of that experiment,” says the SP leader.
‘Faking calm’
Although the protest drew many hundreds of protesters, the organization had hoped for thousands of students. “It’s faking calm man”, responds one of the organizers. “How many students do we have here in the Netherlands? This concerns everyone here!”
While there are great concerns about the future, there is also room for optimism. “I’m going to get out of here,” says a student with a student loan of 10,000 euros determined. “Not by working, but by being here and continuing to fight.”
ttn-55
