Request for financial support (Profilefund) or DUO

Special circumstances that cause or threaten to cause a delay in your studies must be reported to a Dean of Students within two months of their occurrence. The report will be registered and you will receive a copy of the report form.
Notification of circumstances does not necessarily mean that the delay you suffer as a result is financially compensable.

If you have a acknowledged study delay during the first four years of higher education (the years you studied elsewhere before you came to Tilburg University also count), you may be eligible for financial compensation for that delay. One of the conditions is that the delay has been reported on time.

Study delays that occur after four years (or five or six years if you are following a two- or three-year master's program) are no longer compensated. Even if you have already obtained a higher education diploma, any study delay that you incur afterwards will no longer be compensated. Students with an HBO diploma (four years) are therefore no longer eligible for financial compensation if they are delayed in the Pre-Master or master phase.
When you change programs of study, they will be counted on. The four-year period therefore starts from your first year of higher education.

Requests for financial support can only be submitted to a Dean of Students. If you have not graduated within four years of starting your first study in higher education, please contact a Dean of Students.

For students with Dutch study finance from DUO:

Always go first to the Dean of Students when you want to submit a request to DUO. It is useless to consult DUO about this, because the Dean of Students will assess the request first and also has to sign the application.  A condition is that you have previously reported the special circumstances to a Dean of Students. This applies to all requests to DUO: extensions, conversion of performance-related grants and new grants for more appropriate studies. You can find more information about the possibilities offered by DUO on this website (only in Dutch).

The Dean of Students will make an overview of your study progress. If there is a causal link between the cause and time of the delay, the amount of financial support you can claim will be determined depending on the length of the delay.

You can fill in the application form at the Dean of Students' office or receive instructions on how to apply for a facility of DUO.

Attention!

Do you have Dutch study finance and/or a tuition fees loan from DUO? A request must be submitted within one year after the end of your first four years of this study finance.

If you don't have Dutch study finance, you should submit your request at the end of the nominal duration of your program (three years for a bachelor's program, one or two year for a master's program), at the latest one year after the end.

Requests submitted later will not be considered.

Therefore, make an appointment with a Dean of Students if you have not finished your program within four years or the nominal duration. 

Example for students with Dutch study finance: if you spent one year at HBO before you came to study at Tilburg University, you will have to submit an application at the end of your third year at Tilburg University. If you have obtained your bachelor's degree elsewhere within three years, and in your fourth year (premaster's or master's) you have been delayed (and reported), you must submit a request after the end of that fourth year. If you have already studied for a total of four years (at Tilburg University or other institutions), and after that you are still delayed, you will no longer be able to submit a request (see also the top of this page).

Example for students without Dutch study finance: if you have not finished your bachelor's program in three years due to special circumstances, which you have reported earlier, you should request for financial support after that third year. The same goes for your master's after one year, or a research-master after two year.

The Dean of Students advises the Executive Board; the Board takes a decision within (maximum) six weeks after receipt of the request and all necessary documents, which you will receive by e-mail (the "decision"). If you do not agree, you can lodge an online objection within six weeks. If the Dean of Students refuses to support a request to DUO, DUO will not make a decision. You can lodge an objection with DUO against this refusal or against a negative decision. (The latter, of course, only applies to students who apply to DUO because they have a Dutch study grant)