The Council of State is cutting tuition fees by half
Will more people go to college if they have to pay a thousand euros less tuition fees in the first year? The Council of State does not think so and in an urgent advice is extremely critical of a bill proposed by Minister of Education Van Engelshoven.
Picture: National government
If it is up to the cabinet, first-years will not pay € 2.060 tuition fees from September, but € 1.030. Those who follow a teacher training course also receive the discount in the second year of study.
The measure was announced in the coalition agreement and is a compensation for the abolition of the basic grant in 2015. The discount should lower financial barriers for less well-off students and help combat the teacher shortage.
However, according to the Council of State, it is highly questionable whether the measure actually makes higher education more accessible. After all, the influx has recovered after the introduction of the loan system and the number of registrations has almost returned to the old level. Student borrowing behavior would hardly have changed either. Is the measure necessary?
Two thoughts
According to the council, the bill has two ideas: on the one hand, the minister states that access to higher education is good and that only specific groups - especially MBO students whose parents have not studied - are held back by high costs. But on the other hand, she comes up with a measure that works out well for all students.
'If for most students apparently no bottlenecks arise with regard to the accessibility of higher education, the question is what problem such a generic measure is intended to solve', writes the Council of State. Also because a study for a student living away from home costs an average of 58.500 euros in total, the Council considers the financial benefit of the measure to be limited.
The question is what problem such a generic measure aims to solve, writes the Council of State
Not effective
The Council of State also does not believe that the measure will reduce the teacher shortage. Not only the low interest in teacher training, but also the quality of the terms of employment, career prospects and the large-scale dropout of teachers play a role. Moreover, the measure would not be effective, because the costs will be relatively high compared to the number of additional students.
And then there are also a number of 'technical implementation snags' to the bill. For example, DUO cannot adjust the maximum amount of tuition fee credit that can be borrowed with effect from the 2018/2019 academic year, as a result of which students would have to repay the amount received in excess at a later date. According to the Council of State, it is therefore smarter to wait a little longer before introducing it.
Meaningful
Minister Van Engelshoven does not agree with the criticism. According to her, the measure does benefit accessibility: a thousand euros is, according to her, a “significant amount”. And because the discount is relatively worth more for students with a small grant, it also contributes to equal opportunities.
Minister Van Engelhoven also disagrees with the Council of State regarding the teacher shortage. She points out that halving tuition fees is just one of the measures she wants to reduce the teacher shortage. Should the reduction in tuition fees prove to be an efficient means of tempting students for teacher training, the Minister may wish to be able to apply the measure to other study programs in the future. The bill offers scope for this.
