Non-EU students at the UG will have to fork over a lot more in tuition fees in 2024. By raising what’s known as the institutional tuition fees, the university hopes to rake in an extra 1.9 million euros to help with the budget deficit of twenty million euros.
Universities can decide for themselves what to charge non-EU students in tuition. Because they don’t receive any government compensation for these students, the tuition fees have to cover the university’s costs.
That means that arts or economy and business students currently pay more than ten thousand euros a year. Dutch and EU students only pay 2,209 euros a year.
Budget
But now that rising energy costs and a salary increase are threatening the university’s budget, the UG is looking for ways to balance the books. One way is to raise the institutional tuition fees: the UG will add an extra 7.5 percent increase to the 9.4 percent increase for inflation correction.
That means that arts students will be paying 13,100 euros for a bachelor during the 2024-2025 academic year, and STEM students will have to cough up 19,300 euros. Master students will pay 18,700 euros and 24,200 euros respectively.
Consultation
During last week’s committee meeting, the students on the council said they were concerned that UG was going to price itself out of the market. But according to board president Jouke de Vries, studying in the Netherlands is still an order of magnitude cheaper than, for example, the United States. Besides, the amounts are set in consultation with all the other Dutch universities.
Dutch students and EU internationals will also be paying more in tuition fees, although for them, the increase is limited to 9.4 percent. They’ll have to pay 2,530 euros in 2024.
The university council will cast a definitive vote on the proposal on Thursday.