For Spanish citizens, and any EU nationals, Dutch higher education is very cost-effective. Tuition fees at public universities are set by the government and they only increase by a small amount every year. For most Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees the annual fee is €2,168 in 2021/22. In comparison with Spanish universities this is very reasonable, particularly for English-taught degrees. If you compare the costs with British universities it is likely that you can obtain a world-class education for less if you study in Holland.
1. How much does it cost to study in Holland?
Studying in the Netherlands is not free but it is usually very reasonable. We can confidently state that the overall price tag of a three year undergraduate degree will be roughly €36,000. This includes tuition fees and reasonable living costs in most cities.
As an EU national, some support is available to you if you want to study in Holland but it is fair to say that you will have to finance the majority of the cost from your own resources.
2. How does Dutch student finance work?
a. Help with tuition fees?
Because the European Union dictates that all EU citizens must be treated equally, Spanish passport holders are automatically eligible for a tuition fee loan from the Dutch government. This is called Collegegeldkrediet. You don’t have to apply for Collegegeldkrediet if you don’t need it; you can pay the fees upfront if you wish. Some universities charge higher tuition fees, specifically private universities and university colleges. In these cases you will be able to borrow the full amount of the fees. There are some important exceptions:
- If you are studying at a private university that offers foreign-accredited degrees you cannot access tuition fee loans. Fashion schools and music technology colleges are the most common examples.
- Some Master’s degrees at Dutch universities charge higher tuition fees. In these cases you will not be able to access the tuition fee loan. Most students on such programmes are supported by their employer.
This loan is available to anyone with a Spanish or other EU passport. It is not important where you are ordinarily resident.
There are some important conditions you need to meet but these are rarely an issue for Spanish students. You must be under the age of 30 when you start your course, you must have a Dutch bank account and you must have a Dutch “burgerservicenummer” (citizen service number – equivalent to the NIE) which you will only receive when you have a permanent address in the Netherlands.
How does Collegegeldkrediet work?
This is the tuition fee loan component of Dutch student financial support. It consists of a loan to cover the tuition fees for your course. In 2021/2022 this will typically be €2,168. The loan is paid directly into your bank account in ten monthly instalments and it is your responsibility to pay the university. Payments are usually made around the 21st of the month.
Some universities request payment in full for the whole year, or at the start of each semester. This can mean that you have to pay the fees before you receive the loan which may have a temporary impact on your cashflow.
You have to pay interest on Collegegeldkrediet and this is applied from the day you take out the loan but the rate charged currently is close to zero.
There is a two year interval after graduation before you start repaying your loan. The loan must be repaid in full over a maximum of 15 years and there is no mechanism for it to be written off automatically after that time. The minimum monthly repayment is EUR 45.41 but this can be reduced at the discretion of the Dutch government. You will have to repay the loan in full even if you do not complete your degree or if you leave the country.
Assuming you take out Collegegeldkrediet for a three-year undergraduate degree, the total you are likely to owe upon graduation is around €6,500.
You can only apply for Collegegeldkrediet once you have a confirmed offer from a Dutch higher education institution. Your offer will only be confirmed once you have received your final high school results and you have a registered address in the Netherlands. For most students this means you cannot apply for the loan until just before you start your course. As a result, it is quite common for the loan to come through after you have had to pay the first instalment of the fees.
You can apply for the loan at any point up to 31st January in the academic year for which you wish to claim.
The current application form is here. You will only use this form if you are not also applying for support for living costs.
b. Help with living costs?
Nothing….
…unless you work part-time for 56 hours a month every month of the year or meet some other requirements. You can access support towards living costs (Studiefinanciering) if you meet any of the following:
- you have a Dutch passport, or have been resident in the Netherlands for five years without significant interruption;
- you work 56 hours a month in a registered job. You will need to be registered with the Dutch authorities for income tax and national insurance, although as a student you won’t actually have to pay this. You must work this amount every month so it will be difficult to return to Spain for the whole summer, for example;
- you are married or have a partner from the EU and Switzerland, if they work 56 hours a month with a contract from a Dutch employer;
- your parent works 56 hours a month with a contract from a Dutch employer and is resident in the Netherlands;
- If you, your partner or your parent is an independent entrepreneur and/or freelancer based in the Netherlands, works 56 hours a month, and you can prove this to the satisfaction of the Dutch government.
There are some additional conditions that you need to meet in order to be eligible for “Stufi”. You need to have the job for three months before you submit your claim for support. The support you receive will not be backdated so, unless you line up a job before you start studying, you cannot count on this support from day one. If you work you must also purchase Dutch health insurance. Ordinarily you can survive in the Netherlands with a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) from the Spanish government. If you work, you will need full health insurance. The cost of this insurance is usually around €90 a month but you can claim back around €70 of this (only if you are working – you cannot claim anything back if you aren’t).
You can claim up to around €800 per month through this method.
This financial assistance is provided on the basis of your residency status in the Netherlands and not your student status.
It is difficult to meet the requirements for living cost support and we do not recommend that students attempt this in their first year at university. After you have settled in you might have a better idea of whether you can fit your work requirements around your university studies. We include this information solely to give you the full picture of Dutch student finance.
For further information please visit the DUO website.
c. How to repay Dutch student finance?
Repayment of Dutch student loans depends on the amount that you have borrowed.
- If you only have Collegegeldkrediet you must repay over 15 years.
- If you have Studiefinanciering you must repay over 35 years.
Repayments will depend on the overall size of the loan but there are some safeguards built into the system. You will not have to repay if you are earning less than the full-time minimum wage. Repayments will be capped at a maximum of 4% of your gross earnings above the minimum wage. It is unclear exactly what thresholds will apply if you leave the Netherlands.
Default of loan repayments is not a major problem for the Dutch government. However, any student who leaves the country with the intention of not repaying the loan will almost certainly be found if they remain within the European Union. Students will then have to pay back not just the original loan but also a punitive rate of interest. The Dutch government will also be entitled to recover the cost of tracking down defaulters. This could easily treble the overall amount of the student loan. In short, failing to take responsibility for a student loan from the Dutch government is an unwise, not to say an illegal, suggestion.
3. Other sources of financial support for Spanish students in the Netherlands
EU nationals should also be eligible for housing benefit so if you have your own rental contract you can apply for Huurtoeslag.