The slow-progress penalty may be withdrawn and replaced with another cutback. According to RTL Nieuws, Minister Eppo Bruins is discussing this with his colleagues in the government.

According to its own coalition programme, the new government wants to introduce a slow-progress penalty for students who take longer than one year extra to finish their Bachelor’s or Master’s degree. The most important reason: the government intends to save 282 million euros per year this way.

But it is rumoured that Bruins wants to modify this programme. The slow-progress penalty isn’t popular and it would also not be possible to introduce it in the 2026/2027 academic year as planned. Any change in the law would come too late for that.

“Worrying stories”

It would appear Bruins himself isn’t a fan of the penalty either. He heard “truly worrying stories”, for example from informal caregivers and students from poorer families, who are more likely than others to incur study delays. And there are more groups of students like that.

The minister wants to avoid the measure having a “disproportionate and harsh” effect, he recently said to the House of Representatives. But he does have to realise the intended savings, he added.

International students

According to RTL, a serious alternative is to increase the tuition fees (currently 2,530 euros) for all students. That’s what Bruins is reportedly discussing with his fellow ministers. Another possibility would be to increase the tuition fees for foreign students.

Last year, more than 800 thousand students were enrolled in higher education: 340 thousand at research universities and 461 thousand at universities of applied sciences. A quick calculation shows that Bruins will also realise his savings if they all pay an extra 350 euros.

Increasing the tuition fees for just the foreign students isn’t so easy, given European rules. In principle, if Europeans go to another EU member state to study, they pay the same fees as locals. It could be done indirectly, via the tuition fees for English-taught programmes, but that would also impact Dutch students enrolled in those programmes.

Not confirmed

The minister’s spokesperson cannot confirm the news. Officially, the minister is still working on the elaboration of the slow-progress penalty.

Student organisations have been protesting against the government’s plans for months. The Dutch National Students’ Association (ISO) calls the slow-progress penalty “an unfair and unfeasible measure” and feels that the minister is actually acknowledging this by looking for an alternative for the cutback of 282 million euros a year. Ideally, ISO would like to see the government scrapping the savings altogether.

The universities of applied sciences support the protests against the slow-progress penalty and have organised a ‘read-aloud marathon’. All over the country, politicians, teachers, administrators and students read aloud objections submitted to the Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences by more than 25 thousand students.