TU Delft students take action as a prelude to student protests

Wearing bright orange jackets, the Vereniging voor Studie- en Studentenbelangen (VSSD, union for studying and student interests) members handed out mandarins and flyers to passing students on Thursday afternoon 10 October. ‘De groeten met je boete’ (goodbye to your fine) was written on posters on a standing table that someone had brought along.

A pink banner saying ‘Goed onderwijs begint bij een eerlijke basisbeurs’ (good education starts with an honest basic grant) with the logo of the Landelijke Studentenvakbond (Dutch Student Union, LSVb) has waved in the breeze in the Mekelpark, between the Faculties of EEMCS and CEG, since Wednesday. The same banner is also hanging in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Groningen, Utrecht, Zwolle and Nijmegen.

These are small actions in the run-up to a large-scale student protest (in Dutch) on Friday 18 October. On this day, the LSVb has called for a demonstration against the worsening financial position of students at 12:00 on the Koekamp in The Hague.

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Lower basic grant

The protesters say that the fact that students are getting progressively worse off is clear. On Prinsjesdag (the state opening of Parliament), the Nibud (an independent knowledge centre for household finances, in Dutch) calculated that students’ purchasing power would be reduced by 6.6% next year. This is in part because of the lower basic grant for students not living at home that was introduced in September. This had been increased before because of the high inflation rate. “The basic grant is nowhere near the average rent,” says Abdelkader Karbache, Chair of the Landelijke Studentenvakbond (the Dutch Student Union). He is also a student at TU Delft and had previously been a member of the Student Council. “And this while many students do not have rights to rent allowance.”

The Cabinet is also sticking to its plan of introducing the long-term study penalty. A motion by the Partij voor de Dieren (party for animals) in the Senate on Wednesday to scrap the plan was rejected. There was also a ray of hope on Thursday: DUO, the financer, announced that the new interest rate is fixed at 2.57%. This is only 0.01% higher than it was fixed last year.

Nevertheless, taken together, the measures are bad for students, says LSVb Chair Karbache: “We hear more and more often from students that they cannot make ends meet. Studying is not doable for some people without borrowing money.” The Chair says that if the Government really wants to invest in the future, things have to be different. “You don’t do this by creating all sorts of financial obstacles.”

SP Jongeren Haaglanden (SP Youth) also protested against the long-term study penalty on Wednesday. On a banner hung on the fences around the tram track, they called for everyone to sign a petition against the penalty. Their banner was removed that same morning.