Plan to scrap student grants may also be in trouble: FD

The government’s plan to replace student grants with loans may run into trouble in the upper house of parliament, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Tuesday.


The paper says D66 and GroenLinks, the only other parties in the upper house which support the plan, are threatening to torpedo the move.
Both parties say the €800m the government will save by scrapping grants should be pumped back into higher education. But the new coalition is unwilling to guarantee this, the paper says.
The Liberal-Labour coalition does not control the senate.
Dropping the €260 a month grant for live-out students will saddle them all with a debt of at least €13,000 on graduation, Socialist MP Jasper van Dijk told the paper. ‘Technical studies take five years which means students at, say, Delft will build up a debt of at least €15,000, when we desperately need technicians.’
Should students get grants at all? Have your say using the comment box below.

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