Are you a national of an EU/EEA country, Switzerland or the United Kingdom? Then you may be entitled to money for your education: student finance.
What is student finance?
Student finance consists of different components, such as the basic grant, the supplementary grant, the student travel product, the interest bearing loan and the tuition fees loan. You decide which components you apply for.
The basic grant depends on your living situation: when you live away from your parent(s) the grant is higher than when you live with (one of) your parents.
Whether you receive the supplementary grant, and how much, depends among other things on your parents’ income. We look at the income of two years earlier. Usually, we are not able to request the tax authorities for a foreign income. In that case, your parents have to inform us of their income themselves. We recommend that you always apply for the supplementary grant, then DUO will calculate every year whether you are entitled to it.
The student travel product allows you to travel throughout the Netherlands for free or with a discount, with every type of public transport. You can choose for either a weekday or weekend subscription.
Do you need extra money for your education? Then you may decide to borrow from DUO. Every month you can alter the amount you borrow. You pay interest on the loan. Because of the interest, the total debt you have to repay after your studies is higher. You may also wish to borrow money to pay for your tuition fee: the tuition fees loan. The amount you can borrow depends on the type of tuition fees you have to pay. You pay interest on the tuition fees loan as well.
Conditions
Whether you qualify for student finance depends on your age, course and nationality.
- You have to be under 30 when your student finance starts.
- Secondly, you must be registered as a full-time or a dual student.
- Furthermore, you have to work in the Netherlands (additional conditions apply here) or you must have been living in the Netherlands for at least five consecutive years.
- Go to duo.nl/eligibility for more information.
From the first month you receive student finance or the student travel product, you begin to accrue a debt. Some interest is added to this debt each month. If you get a diploma within 10 years, your basic grant, supplementary grant and student travel product will be converted into a gift. Do you not get a diploma within ten years? Then your study debt remains as it is and you must repay everything, with interest. You must always pay back the loan and the tuition fees loan, with interest
Apply for student finance
- You apply for student finance via Mijn DUO . To log in to Mijn DUO you need to have a DigiD.
- With DigiD you log in to every Dutch governmental organization. Apply via digid.nl.
- Supporting documents: In order to assess whether you are entitled to student finance, and for how long, we need you to send us supporting documents. Go to duo.nl/supportingdocuments and check which documents.
Do you have questions?
Feel free to reach out to any of our international officers
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