The national student union LSVb, along with other student unions, will be protesting against the government’s cuts to the education budget and the introduction of fines for study delays on the 18th of October in The Hague.
The government plan to introduce a fine for bachelor’s and master’s degree students who take longer than the set time to finish their degree. Students taking more than one year than their prescribed course duration will be slapped with a €3,000 fine per year on top of their regular tuition fee. It’s not the first time a government wanted to enforce this, but because of protests organised by the LSVb the fine was never enforced and the plans for it were rejected.
The LSVb said that the long-study fine hits vulnerable students the most and enlarges the inequality in education, students are struggling to get by with just their basic grants, and the purchasing power of students will lower by 6.6%. Students will have €113 less to spend per month while their costs continue to increase. Therefore, the unions will also be protesting against the basic grants going down by €160, the budget cuts for universities that have already been announced, and the compensation of study loans.
The LSVb is of the opinion that students should be able to study comfortably, without too much stress, and that studying should be accessible to everyone.
The protest is being organised in cooperation with other local student unions. If you want to be more involved in your local student union you can sign up for the WhatsApp group here. The University of Groningen had previously endorsed a protest against budget cuts at the start of the academic year.
