Additional fee for students who exceed the nominal study duration limit
What's the substance of the legislative measure?
As from September 2012, full-time and part-time students who register for a Bachelor’s-level program for a fifth time and have not completed a Bachelor’s yet will pay an additional fee of € 3,063 on top of the tuition fee. This additional fee will also be paid by students who are in a Master’s program with 60 ECTS credits, but have not completed the Master's yet and wish to register for a Master’s for a third time.
The same additional fee will apply to students who are in a Master’s program with 120 ECTS credits, but have not completed the Master's yet and wish to register for a Master’s for a fourth time.
Students who are following a Bachelor’s and/or Master’s program will thus be allowed to study one extra year at the statutory tuition fee rate for each program phase. After that, they will pay the statutory tuition fee (€ 1,771 in 2012) plus the additional € 3,063 fee (‘statutory increased tuition fee’). The student will still be entitled, though, to a tuition fee loan
, a loan enabling him or her to pay the tuition fee.
Students with functional limitations
The proposed amendments take into account students with functional limitations, such as serious illnesses or disabilities, who have been granted an extra year’s performance-linked student grant by the Education Implementation Department [Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs (DUO)].
Besides the one-year extension for Bachelor’s programs and one-year extension for Master’s programs available to everyone, this group of students will also get an extra one-year extension. They can use this one-year extension for the Bachelor’s or Master’s program.
Who will the regulations apply to?
The measures will only apply to students ‘taking too long to graduate’ who also pay the statutory tuition fee.
You pay the statutory tuition fee (€ 1,771 in 2012-2013) if you are or could be entitled to a student grant and you haven’t obtained your degree yet.
The new measures will not apply to students paying an institutional tuition fee because they are taking a second Bachelor's or Master's program after finishing the first one (except for degree programs in Health or Education).
The measures also will not apply to students paying an institutional fee because they are a non-European national or live outside the Netherlands.
When will you be considered to be ‘taking too long to graduate’?
The Education Implementation Department will indicate how many ‘years’ (since 1991) a student has ‘used up’. It will apply the following principles:
A student who, in any academic year in the past, was registered on 30 September of that academic year for a study program will, for purposes of these regulations, have used an entire year, even if he or she was unenrolled again during the course of the academic year. If, for example, you've registered four consecutive times, or with an interruption, for Bachelor’s programs as of September, and unenroll again each time as of October or later that year – for whatever reason –, you’ll pay € 3,063 extra to register for a Bachelor’s program. It won’t matter that you were only registered for a few months in those years.
Nor will it matter whether you were registered as a full-time or part-time student. A part-time student will also pay € 3,063 extra for a fifth registration for a Bachelor’s program or for a third registration for a Master’s program if the Master’s program entails 60 ECTS credits.
One year’s registration (every 30 September will be counted as a year) in a program at a school of professional education or in a doctoral program (since 1991) will be fully counted as well.
If you are simultaneously taking more than one program, the program providing the fewest rights will be looked at. For instance, if you register as of September for a Master’s program for the third time and you are simultaneously going to be following a Master’s program with 60 ECTS credits and one with 120 ECTS credits, you’ll pay € 3,063 extra (exclusive indexation), because you’ll be considered to be ‘taking too long to graduate’ with respect to the 60-ECTS credits Master’s program. If you register as of 1 September for a Bachelor’s program for the fifth time and you’re taking a Bachelor's program at a school of professional education or university, you’ll also pay € 3,063 extra, because you’ll be considered to be ‘taking too long to graduate’ with respect to the Bachelor’s program at the university.
Registration in a Pre-Master's course counts as one year for this measure. That is why the Board has decided to register Pre-Master students in the Bachelor's program as of september 2011.
If you disagree with the number of years calculated by the Education Implementation Department, you can file objections with your own institution.
Study in Health or Education
An exception will apply to students whose second program is their first study program in Health or Education, unless they already have a degree in Health or Education.
The counter will be set back to zero for them when they start the second program,
How much will you pay?
For each academic year, you’ll only pay the additional € 3,063 once, regardless of how many programs you’re taking. This is the ‘increased statutory fee’.
If, during the course of the year, you deregister, the basic tuition fee and extra € 3,063 fee will be refunded to you in proportion to the number of months you didn’t use yet. You won’t receive this refund if you unenroll after 1 June.
The indexed increased statutory tuition fee in September 2012 will be € 4,834. (Statutory fee 2012-13 is € 1,771 plus a rise of € 3,063).
Please note
These measures only apply for students who pay the statutory fee.Non-EEA students who pay the institutional fee don't pay the additional fee as mentioned on this page.