The number of Dutch students in debt has fallen for the second year since the return of the basic grant in 2023, but over a million graduates are still facing mounting debt.

Student grants were abolished in 2015 and since then students have had to borrow to fund their degree courses, running up an average debt of around €20,000 by the time they graduate. A smaller grant was brought back in 2023.

Some 460,000 students currently in education are in debt, according to latest figures from national statistics agency CBS, some 150,000 down on 2023, when the basic grant was reinstated.

However, 146,000 former students are facing debts of €50,000 or more, up 10,000 from 2024 and 113,000 from 2015. Over 3,000 have a debt of €100,000 or more, the CBS figures show.

And the average debt has gone up from €5,800 in 2015 to €18,200 in 2025 and continues to mount as students borrow higher amounts, the CBS said.

The fall in the number of students in debt is a clear effect of changes to the student loans system, CBS head economist Peter Hein van Mulligen told broadcaster NOS.

That more students are now over €50,000 in debt is caused in part by inflation and higher rents for student accommodation but mostly because they were studying during the old system. “They have had to borrow money to fund part of their studies,” he said.

Higher interest rates on their loan, up from 0.5% to 2.5% in 2024, also play a part, he said. “That will increase your debt, even if you are no longer a student,” Van Mulligen said.

The basic grant is €314 per month for students who live out and €126 for those who live at home and students need to work or borrow the rest of what they need.

College and university students from households where the annual income is less than €39,000 are also able to apply for a means-tested top-up grant of up to €475 per month.