Tuition fees and payment

Every year, the Minister of Education determines the tuition fee for full-time and part-time study programs in higher education. This fee is referred to as the statutory fee.

All students with an EU or EEA* nationality are required to pay the statutory fee.

This statutory fee applies to all institutes of higher education throughout the Netherlands (€2,530 in 2024-2025 academic year, this academic year 2023-2024 it is €2,314) and has to be paid only once, regardless of how many different programs or courses you take or the institution where you take them, as long as you pay the statutory fee. This applies for as long as you do not yet have a Dutch degree**.

Please note: until the 2023-2024 academic year, students enrolling for the first time in a bachelor program in higher education who paid the statutory fee were entitled to pay half of the statutory fee. However, the government has decided to stop halving the statutory fee from the 2024-2025 academic year. All first-year students will pay the full tuition fee rate applicable to them starting from the 2024-2025 academic year.

*EU or EEA

Students with an EU or EEA nationality (European Economic Area) might be entitled to Dutch student finance. See student finance DUO.

Students who are not citizens of an EU or EEA country are put on a par with students of an EEA country, if they meet the nationality requirements of the Dutch Student Finance Act 2000 (Wet studiefinanciering 2000). Check if you meet the eligibility requirements in terms of nationality.

If you are entitled to student finance (DUO), you are allowed to pay the statutory fee.

If you are entitled to student finance but won’t get it because you are older than 30 years, you still pay the statutory fee (unless you already have a Dutch degree).

**Diploma or Dutch degree

Having a Dutch degree means having passed the last examination of the study program. This means that even if you have completed all course units, but have not yet received a diploma, you will still meet the criteria 'diploma or degree obtained'.

More information

• Overview of all rates
• Payment of tuition fees

The fee for non-EU/EEA** students and EU/EEA students who do not qualify for the statutory fee (see example below) is the institutional fee. Each academic year, Tilburg University determines the institutional fees. Rates may be different per study program.

If you pay institutional fees and are enrolled in multiple programs, you must pay separately for each enrollment.

EU/EEA Bachelor's students who already hold a Dutch Bachelor's degree and EU/EEA Master's students who already hold a Dutch Master's degree do not qualify for the statutory fee. They must pay the institutional fee.

The main institutional fees are:

• Bachelor's program: €9,300 in 2024-2025
• Master's program: €16,500 in 2024-2025
   

*Diploma or Dutch degree

Having a diploma or Dutch degree means having passed the last examination of the study program. This means that even if you have completed all course units, but have not yet received a diploma, you will still meet the criteria 'diploma or degree obtained'.

**non-EU/EEA or EU/EEA?

Students who are not citizens of an EU or EEA (European Economic Area) country are put on a par with students of an EEA country, if they meet the nationality requirements of the Dutch Student Finance Act 2000 (Wet studiefinanciering 2000). Check if you meet the eligibility requirements in terms of nationality.

If you are entitled to student finance (DUO), you are allowed to pay the statutory fee.

If you are entitled to student finance but won’t get it because you are older than 30 years, you still pay the statutory fee (unless you already have a Dutch degree).

More information

• Overview of all rates
• Payment of tuition fees

Pre-Master's students follow a deficiency program and do not pay tuition fee for this, but a weighted fee per academic year per course for the specific program determined by the Examination Board. The amount of weighted fee depends on the total amount of credits (expressed in ECTS/EC) of your pre-Master's program. If the program is not completed within one year, the student will pay a weighted fee for the remaining courses of the program in the following academic year. The weighted fee is a proportional part of the statutory fee (€253 for 6 EC in 2024-2025). The maximum weighted fee for a pre-Master’s program is as much as the statutory fee: €2,530 in 2024-2025. 

The pre-Master's weighted fee will always have to be paid in full, regardless of whether all ECTS have been obtained or not. If you deregister during the academic year and have not yet paid the outstanding weighted fee in full, the payment obligation will continue until everything has been paid. If you have paid the total weighted fee in full and you deregister during the academic year, there will be NO refund of (a part of) the weighted fee.

A pre-Master's student is not allowed to follow courses other than those determined by the Examination Board. If you want to follow additional courses, you have to register as a contract student and for that, you pay €253 (plus €58 administration costs) per cluster of 6 EC in 2024-2025. This fee is a special rate for pre-Master's students who wish to take additional courses as contract students.

As a pre-Master's student you will be enrolled in a Bachelor's program and therefore, you will continue to be entitled to student finance from DUO (if you are entitled to it). See student finance.

More information

• Overview of all rates
• Payment of tuition fees

Students of Ukrainian nationality, first enrolled at Tilburg University in 2022-2023, pay an institutional fee of which the rate equals the statutory fee. This applies to the nominal and uninterrupted duration of one Bachelor’s program (three years) and one Master‘s program (one or two years), with a maximum of one extension year over the total period.

See also Information and support Ukraine.

New students from Ukraine (starting September 2023 and later) pay the institutional fee for non-EEA students, see Rates tuition fees.

The Dutch Higher Education and Research Act (Wet op het Hoger Onderwijs en Wetenschappelijk onderzoek) defines that a student enrolled in an initial graduate program has to pay either statutory tuition fee or institutional tuition fee. Most students will pay the statutory fee set by the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science.

Students who enroll in a second Bachelor's or Master's program, after having graduated for their first Bachelor's or Master's program*, as well as students from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) have to pay institutional tuition fees. These fees are set by the University’s Executive Board after consultation with the University Council.

In principle, Tilburg University’s institutional fees are based on the total costs for initial / first degree Bachelor and Master programs. Marketing considerations may lead some programs to set a different fee. In addition, Schools can offer a waiver (discount) to potentially promising students. Institutional fees cannot be lower than the full statutory fee. The income position of students is not taken into account when setting the institutional fees. There are various organizations and institutions that provide grants to students.

Students who enroll in a pre-Master’s program, pay a weighted fee, depending on the size of their program in credits (see also above under 'weighted fees').

After obtaining their Master's degree, students receive knowledge vouchers from Tilburg University. These vouchers entitle graduates to take free courses from the regular curriculum up to a maximum of 12 EC for up to five years after graduation (administration costs must be paid).

*having a diploma or Dutch degree means having passed the last examination of the study program. This means that even if you have completed all course units, but have not yet received a diploma, you will still meet the criteria 'diploma or degree obtained'.

Bachelor's or (Research) Master's students

If you terminate your enrollment via Studielink during the academic year, you may be entitled to a refund of 1/12 of the tuition fee for each month of the academic year you are no longer enrolled. If you are enrolled in several programs, you will only receive a refund if you terminate your enrollment in all programs.

If your de-enrollment date is July 1, or August 1, you are not entitled to a refund. In this case, you may remain enrolled in the program until 31-08, giving you the added advantage of remaining registered as a student with all associated entitlements such as a student travel pass. From mid-June, you can indicate that you do not wish to re-enroll for the next academic year.

Please note! When submitting a deregistration request in Studielink, it is only possible to deregister as of the first day of the following month or as of the first day of a month later in the academic year. For example, if you submit your request on May 31, you can terminate your enrollment as of June 1. You will then not have to pay tuition fees for the months of June, July and August and may be entitled to a refund. If you submit your request on June 1, July 1 will be the first option to be deregistered and you are required to pay until August and will not be entitled to a refund.

Pre-Master's students

If you terminate your enrollment for a pre-Master’s program, you are not entitled to a refund, because the weighted fee you pay is not considered to be tuition fee by Dutch Law. Even if you do not obtain all credits (ECTS), the weighted fee still has to be paid in full. If you terminate your enrollment and the fee has not yet been paid in full, the payment obligation continues until everything has been paid. If you terminate your enrollment and have paid the weighted fee in full, there will be no (partial) refund of the fee.

The United Kingdom left the EEA and the transition period ended on December 31, 2020. British nationals living in the Netherlands on or before this date are covered by the withdrawal agreement, which means that their entitlement to pay the statutory tuition fee did not change (see government website). 

See also FAQ UK Citizens living in the Netherlands and Living in the Netherlands after Brexit.

You can find the tuition fee rules for multiple enrollments in article 16 of the Registration and Tuition Fee Regulations.

In brief:

1. Enrollment for Bachelor and Master: if you qualify for the statutory fee, you pay only once €2,530 for 2024-2025. If the institutional fee applies to you (e.g. non-EEA students), you will pay the established fee per study program.
2. Enrollment for pre-Master and Master: if you pay the statutory fee, you only pay tuition fee for the Master (see article 10.2). If you pay the institutional fee, you pay both the pre-Master's weighted fee and the Master's institutional fee.
3. If you enroll in multiple study programs at different institutions (e.g., hbo bachelor and wo bachelor) and if you pay the statutory tuition fee, you only need to pay at one institution. You can apply for a Proof of tuition fee payment (BBC), which allows you to be exempted from paying at the other institution.

As a pre-Master's student you will be enrolled in a Bachelor's program and therefore, you remain entitled to student finance from DUO, as far as your rights have not yet been used up during previous enrollments in higher education.

You inform DUO of the Bachelor's program in which you will be enrolled as a new student.

This only applies to EU/EEA students who are entitled to Dutch student finance (for non-EU/EEA students, your eligibility depends on your residence permit, see eligibility)