DUO arrangement easy to abuse
Compensation for a lazy eye
On a cold December night in 2021, he suddenly found himself on the ground. During a fun night out with his friends, business student Bas Leenman (24) missed a step walking onto a kerb. ‘I tripped and fell face-first into a concrete wall.’
As a result, he had a big gash on his forehead, his nose was smashed to pieces, and his jaw, cheekbone, and both eye sockets were broken. ‘The surgery to fix it all took over eight hours’, he says.
The accident led Bas to suffer a considerable delay in his studies. He managed to pass just a single course that year. ‘I couldn’t really study during the exam period. I especially had trouble focussing.’
Arrangements
He could have been compensated for the extra debt he incurred because of this delay. There are two types of arrangements for students who are delayed in their studies because of special circumstances, such as illness or mental issues, as well as informal care or a board year. But Bas had no idea these arrangements even existed. And so he missed out on the money.
A broken nose does doesn’t get in the way of studying
Student dean Jos Karssies isn’t surprised to hear that. He handles and evaluates the applications for these arrangements: students suffering a short delay can appeal to the UG’s own Graduation Fund, while those who’ve suffered a substantial delay due to ‘medical reasons’ can apply for an extra year of the performance grant at DUO.
But in his experience, not everyone is familiar with these options. ‘Officially, students have to inform their study advisor if they’re suffering any delays. They’re told this during introduction, and the Graduation Fund committee also checks to see if they’ve done so before making a decision. However, many students don’t end up reporting it until later, because they weren’t aware of the arrangement. Of course, you can’t expect them to memorise all the arrangements on day one.’
Doctor’s note
But while students like Bas miss out on compensation, others may receive compensation when they don’t really deserve it.
Twenty-two-year-old Michiel – not his real name – heard about someone receiving compensation for a broken nose. ‘I can’t imagine a broken nose getting in the way of studying. I guess a doctor’s note has a lot of power.’
In order for students to qualify for compensation, their DUO application has to be signed by a doctor or psychologist to signify that the student suffered from a medical condition when they were suffering a study delay. But DUO only wants to know whether there was a medical condition and when the student suffered it. Doctors aren’t asked for an explanation of the condition. In fact, DUO isn’t legally allowed to ask for the details.
Business student Michiel now hopes to get an extra year’s worth of the performance grant for his lazy eye, even though this wasn’t the reason he suffered a study delay of six months. But he has a note in his medical file for the correct time period, so his doctor should just be willing to sign the form. ‘Hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?’
Grey area
A Groningen general practitioner who often fills out these DUO forms confirms that some students abuse the arrangement. ‘It’s simply a huge grey area. Theoretically, we should be signing it for every single medical issue, provided the student saw a doctor about it’, he says.
Theoretically, we should be signing the form for every single medical issue
The practitioner has chosen to stay anonymous, because he doesn’t want his patients to be affected.
When an employee gets sick, the company doctor can check whether it’s serious. But when a student says they can’t study, there is no one who can verify that. Student deans don’t have access to their students’ medical files.
On top of that, the form that needs to be filled out is not particularly clear, the general practitioner says. ‘It’s not quite a request for information, but it’s not a medical assessment, either. It’s sort of somewhere in the middle. Obviously, people will use that to abuse the system.’ That’s also because the payout is worth it: with the current basic grant, a student living independently with a complete supplementary grant can get up to more than 9,000 euros.
No evaluation
The general practitioner remembers cases where there was nothing in the student’s file indicating their condition would affect their study progress. ‘But we don’t evaluate the situation, because we’re not being asked to.’
That’s why some of the doctors in his practice refuse to fill out the form at all. ‘We all think it’s a nonsensical form. I do fill it out myself, because it’s actually less work to do that than to explain why I wouldn’t want to fill it out.’
Another one of his colleagues does actually assess the seriousness of the medical condition. ‘I don’t fill it out without checking. I make sure it’s all above board.’
Probing
Karssies also admits to sometimes having doubts. During his meetings with students, he always tries to understand the correlation between their medical condition and the study delay they’ve suffered.
Investigating would hurt the students whose stories are truly harrowing
‘We ask probing questions and try to make sure that if we support the DUO application, we are as honest and clear as we can be’, he says. ‘We use more than just the filled-out medical form in our assessment. But there’s no way for us to check if what a student tells us is true.’
He always assumes the students are being honest. ‘I’d hate to have to assume that someone isn’t telling me the truth. I would have to request additional medical files for each application – with the student’s permission, of course. That would hurt the students whose stories are truly harrowing.’
Trust
As such, if a student comes to him with a form that’s been filled out by a medical profession, Karssies has no problem supporting them in their application. ‘With most students, I have a clear picture of their situation. We trust the information the medical professional provided.’
He also doesn’t think it’s easy to create a foolproof system. ‘We as deans can’t do much about it, anyway.’ They’ve tried to tell DUO about the issue, but to no avail. ‘DUO says they don’t see what the problem is.’
In the meantime, Michiel has told others about his situation. ‘A lot of people have said they want to try it as well. Let’s be honest, the long study penalty is coming and there’s a lot of pressure on us to study, work, and have a social life all at the same time. I think people are keen to try and get a bit of extra cash.’
Have you suffered a study delay due to a medical condition? See the Graduation Fund and DUO for more information.