The new government’s plans to scrap student grants and replace them with loans may stall in the upper house of parliament, Nos television reports on Wednesday.

Ministers want to replace the €260 monthly grant for live-out students from 2014 and scrap free student travel as well.
Senators from the left-wing green party GroenLinks could have helped the government to a majority in the senate because they back student loans not grants.
Access
But the party says it fears the cabinet’s plans will hit access to higher education. ‘Very major steps will need to be taken to make it possible for GroenLinks to support the change,’ senator Ruard Ganzevoort told the broadcaster.
In particular, Ganzevoort says free student travel should not be affected, college fees should be cut and the money saved by scrapping grants be reinvested in education.
Labour leader Diederik Samsom told television show Nieuwsuur earlier he expected GroenLinks and the D66 Liberals to back the proposals in the senate because they both included scrapping the basic grant in their manifestos.
The new government controls 30 of the 75 seats in the upper house of parliament. D66 and GroenLinks each control five.
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