The Groningen Student Union (GSb) has announced a protest meeting to decide upon action against the loan system, in the context of the national campaign #nietmijnschuld
The students will meet in Groningen on 7 November at 19:00 to speak out against the loan system and to discuss the Groningen campaign strategy.
Student organizations have formed a movement throughout the country that wants to see the abolition the loan system for good. What they want in instead is a basic grant for everyone, compensation for the ‘loan generation’ and a guarantee that whatever funding gap appears will not be closed with resources from education.
In collaboration with the National Student Union (LSVb), FNV Young & United and with the support of all unions, the GSb wants to use the campaign ‘to show that students in Groningen want to return to a basic grant system’.
GSb Chairman Jan Willem Leeuwma explains: “The students of Groningen experience a great deal of stress and have little room for development due to the current loan system.”
“Give the student the freedom to develop and thereby fully enjoy the opportunities that the study period offers, “says Leeuwma. The study period for learning: learning to discover and learning who you are. “Now we see huge debts with the students and many problems with buying a house”, argues the Groninger Studentenbond (GSb)
Image: the DUO offices in Groningen, image via Wikimedia user Richard Broekhuijzen. License here
