How are you going to pay for it?

Translation in progress

It seems like the government is short of money. Collectively, we are told that we need to tighten our belts so that we can avoid ballooning deficits and keep the ship of state afloat. Sound familiar?

This rhetoric is commonly applied when people in power deem it necessary to impose austerity measures upon ‘less useful’ parts of the government’s expenditures, such as welfare, public transport, and healthcare. And now it seems it is education’s turn.

Even vigorous protests from universities, student organisations and civil society have failed to stop the implementation of the langstudeerboete – it seems that students will have to overpay for their extracurricular development. In his column from last week, Dap Hartmann stated that long-term students who explore other disciplines, make time for hobbies, sports, self-reflection and self-expression should be cherished. I fully agree! But does our current economic and social system do so?

Students are not seen as citizens being educated to participate responsibly in society. They are automatons trained to enter the workforce at an accelerated rate in order to produce economic value. The Executive Board, pre-empting the coalition programme’s (in Dutch) rhetoric of growth, has also informed us that ‘The message is growth’. The tight labour market is limiting economic growth, so we need to inundate it with new graduates. Of course, this would also increase competition between workers and depress wages, to employers’ benefit.

The subsidies to the fossil fuel industry remain ongoing

But they are not the only beneficiaries of these measures. If universities are forced to increase the number of students without receiving the corresponding funding and support, the gaps in their budgets will need to be covered somehow. (Of course, we will also have more lectures in Pathe, which is not necessarily something to complain about.) Actors that have stirred up controversy on campus, such as the fossil fuel industry and arms manufacturers, will be more than happy to fill the gap and improve their image.

But most importantly, is the Government’s rhetoric even true? Are we really out of money?

I wouldn’t be so sure. While government officials rail against the irresponsible use of taxpayers’ money, they have promised tax exemptions on share buybacks worth EUR 2 billion (in Dutch) to foreign firms and investors to settle in the Netherlands. A massive expansion of military funding is also in the planning (in Dutch), and ongoing subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, allegedly to stimulate the energy transition, still number in the billions.

So money is available, just not for the public institutions that support a good life – and education, which supports our future. Why do we, as a society, implicitly accept this framing? Why is austerity in these sectors seen as gospel and is not to be challenged?

Well, now it is being challenged. Thanks to the Government’s misstep with the langstudeerboete (a fine for delayed graduation, Eds.), the spotlight of civil society is on education (in Dutch). Student organisations are pushing back against budget cuts and have created an environment ripe for mobilisation against further austerity policies. Who knows, maybe the next protest will be against increasing taxes on books and fitness.