Student groups on Thursday said MPs have behaved like small children after failing to agree on how to finance halting the introduction of higher college fees for students who take too long to complete their degree.

Even though a majority of MPs now oppose charging slow students an extra €3,000 in fees, they failed to decide how to make up the financial shortfall this would entail. The measure is set to raise €60m a year.
‘They are just like small children who only want to play with their own marbles,’ said Thijs van Reekum, chairman of student organisation ISO. ‘Parliament has completely failed.’
‘What has happened here is totally ridiculous,’ said Jan Boers, of the LKvK student body.
Rethink
Although the introduction of higher fees earlier won the support of a slim majority of MPs, last week CDA leader Sybrand Buma called for a rethink, saying his party no longer supported the proposal.
This prompted MPs to call for an emergency debate with the minister responsible, Halbe Zijlstra. But he made it clear he would only withdraw the legislation if MPs came up with an alternative source for the money.
After the debate was over, Zijlstra told MPs students should be told immediately where they stand. ‘Either you organise it or you make sure there is clarity, because this is unacceptable,’ the minister is quote as saying by the Volkskrant.
The extra fees are now set to be introduced from September 1.
Motion
GroenLinks MP Tofik Dibi plans to make a ‘last ditch attempt’ to head off the introduction by drawing up a motion opposing the fees. This would need to be voted on by the entire parliament, which is currently in recess.
NRC reporter Bart Funnekotter said the failure to reach an agreement is extremely painful for the CDA.
‘If you announce something during an election campaign, sit together for two days and then still fail to find €60m you are talking about political failure,’ he said on the paper’s website.

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