DUO adjusts student finance application
“There were students who were entitled to a supplementary grant, did not take it and eventually took out a loan,” minister Robbert Dijkgraaf told the Senate. “That is totally inexplicable, other than the fact that they were not informed in the right way.”
The supplementary grant (soon to be a maximum of 416 euros per month) is intended for students from lower-income families. They can already get part of that scholarship if their parents’ combined income is below 70 thousand euros.
But because many students mistakenly did not apply for the scholarship, DUO has adjusted the application screen for the student grant. Nowadays, the supplementary grant has a checkmark by default. So, you have to uncheck it if you necessarily do not want the scholarship.
The proportion of students who do now apply for the supplementary grant has risen from 69 to 93 per cent since 1 January. Dijkgraaf: “That shows how sometimes a very small intervention can have a big effect.” (HOP, BB)
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