The total student debt is another billion euros higher than last year and now stands at €29 billion, data from the Statistics Netherlands (CBS) shows. Debts have risen rapidly since 2015, when the basic grant was abolished.
In particular, the debt of young people aged between 25 and 30 has gone up. It is now 24.6 thousand euros on average, some five thousand euros more than in 2021. ‘People between the ages of 25 and 30 took little or no advantage of the basic grant and could only take out a loan,’ notes CBS. ‘They have also had little time to repay.’
But the basic grant is back and that effect is already visible. Young people between the ages of 20 and 25 owe an average of 13.1 thousand euros to DUO, compared to 13.9 thousand euros last year. This amount has dropped for the first time since 2016.
Up to 10 thousand euros
There are also slightly less people with student debt: it is still more than 1.6 million, but compared to last year, there are almost 13 thousand fewer. CBS’ explanation: less students applied for loans.
About half have a debt below 10 thousand euros, while there are also 138 thousand people with study debt above 50 thousand euros. Note that these are current study debts, i.e. including those who have already almost finished repaying and are barely in debt after 15 years or so. (HOP, BB)
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