Ministers are considering scrapping the current system of student grants to reduce government spending, the AD reports on Thursday, quoting sources in The Hague.

The paper says finance ministry officials are working on plans to abolish student grants and student travel cards, which would save €800m and €200m a year respectively.
Ministers are due to decide in the early spring where to make the new cuts which will be necessary because of the eurozone crisis. These will come on top of the €18bn package already agreed.
Majority support
The AD points out that changes to student grants were included in the VVD’s manifesto for the July 2010 general election. Labour, GroenLinks and D66 also want students to pay more towards the cost of their degrees, the paper says.
The VVD’s Christian Democratic party coalition partner was opposed to any changes to the grant system but a spokesman told the paper ‘the time for taboos is over’.
At the moment all students get a basic grant of €266.23 if they live away from home and can borrow up to around €670. According to the family spending institute Nibud, students leave university with average debts of around €15,000.
The AD says the student travel card, which gives students the right to free travel on public transport either on weekdays or at weekends, is also in danger. It may be replaced by a discount card.