Student Financing whilst Studying in amsterdam

TennisFan

My DD has decided she wants to study at an Amsterdam University starting Sept 2013, I am trying to understand how the various finance and student loan options she would have if she were going to a UK uni, can be replicated (or not!) when the Uni is in Holland.

Has anyone got direct first hand experience of financing study in Holland - do the assumptions I make below make sense? :

· UK Gov. Tuition Fee Loan == > Dutch Gov. Tuition Fee Loan (interest free!)

· UK Gov Maintenance Loan == > Dutch Gov Student Grant .... if she can find a part time job in the Netherlands for at least 32 hours per month, then various student grants, loans and travel concessions seem to become to open her.

· Student Bank Account & overdraft facility == >I assume these are still available from UK banks when studying abroad but wonder if Dutch Banks have more generous terms than UK banks?

· UK University grants and scholarships (difficult to obtain) ---- > Dutch University grants and scholarships (are these difficult to obtain?)

· Help with Dyslexia problems via the Disabled Students Allowance --- > What help is offered seems to be down to the individual University, I’ve not found anything equivalent to the UK DSA allowance in Holland.


Any advice gratfully received.

thank you

sharp910sh

SueMeredith wrote: »

My DD has decided she wants to study at an Amsterdam University starting Sept 2013, I am trying to understand how the various finance and student loan options she would have if she were going to a UK uni, can be replicated (or not!) when the Uni is in Holland.

Has anyone got direct first hand experience of financing study in Holland - do the assumptions I make below make sense? :

· UK Gov. Tuition Fee Loan == > Dutch Gov. Tuition Fee Loan (interest free!)

· UK Gov Maintenance Loan == > Dutch Gov Student Grant .... if she can find a part time job in the Netherlands for at least 32 hours per month, then various student grants, loans and travel concessions seem to become to open her.

· Student Bank Account & overdraft facility == >I assume these are still available from UK banks when studying abroad but wonder if Dutch Banks have more generous terms than UK banks?

· UK University grants and scholarships (difficult to obtain) ---- > Dutch University grants and scholarships (are these difficult to obtain?)

· Help with Dyslexia problems via the Disabled Students Allowance --- > What help is offered seems to be down to the individual University, I’ve not found anything equivalent to the UK DSA allowance in Holland.


Any advice gratfully received.

thank you

this may help http://www.studyinholland.co.uk/loans_and_grants.html

TennisFan

Very, very useful website link - many thanks Sharp910sh.

melancholly

http://www.studyineurope.eu/

another good site. plus worth checking out a few more options just beacuse putting all her eggs in the Amsterdam basket is risky. there are other excellent unis there (and equally, other very poor ones!)

my understanding was that the loans systems in holland required residency status, much like the loans systems here. the advantage of many european degrees is the lower fees, the disadvantage always has been that you have to have the money upfront since you aren't eligible for any loans.

as well as investigating this, depending on what subject she's doing, it's worth looking at uk courses with a year in europe, just to compare all options.

Sobraon

Good videos at the Beeb, they explain clearly [IMHO]the costs and allowances:

At 1:30 the BBC Reporter says "Once you know all the facts, it seems less of a question of why study in the Netherlands than why not?"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13888169

also (for Amsterdam)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15031461

(ps please don't take all the places because DD2 needs one in 2015 )

TennisFan

Many , many thanks Sobraon and Melancholly - really interesting links. (Don't you just love how useful this forum is?!!).

The financial side of going to a Uni in Amsterdam is beginning to look doable. DD already holds offers from some UK Unis but is thinking she will do a Gap year first and hence has time to investigate Amsterdam as well.

I wonder a bit about how well degrees from a Dutch University will be viewed by UK or European employer - if anyone has experience of this area or are an employer and employ graduates, then it would be interesting to get your view. (DD is looking at the Amsterdam University of Applied Science).

Dunroamin

I'm not sure whether this is relevant to her choice.

"Vocational universities
Vocational universities in the Netherlands are institutions of tertiary education that in Dutch are called hogeschool. Their focus is towards professional education rather than scientific research. They are accredited to confer bachelor's, master's and, prior to the Bologna Process, engineer's degrees.
While the literal translation of hogeschool is "high school", these entities are equal to vocational universities. They can also be compared with colleges, polytechnics, and universities of applied arts. Dutch vocational universities cannot use the name university in the Dutch language (universiteit) and are not accredited to confer doctorates (PhD) degrees. In international contexts, the phrase University of Applied Sciences is used for the majority of these schools, as suggested by the Dutch Minister of Education.[7] Some specific exceptions have been made. For example, tertiary art schools and schools of education use an internationally recognisable name of choice."

What are her choices in the UK, what grades is she expecting and what are her career aims?

bewildered123

I don't think you need to worry to much about how a Dutch degree will be viewed in general. The one issue you might want to think about, and if it would be an issue ask someone, is whether your daughter might want to do postgraduate work. The universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands offer professional degrees rather than research-orientated ones (a bit like the old polytechnic / university divide in the UK). I know in neighbouring Germany that this can be a problem if you want to progress to a postgraduate degree at a 'research' university. I mention this only because I am aware that many science careers do require postgraduate qualifications.
Three other things you might want to look into from my experience at a British university arranging study abroad exchanges for our undergrads - Amsterdam is a very difficult place to find housing and there is little student accommodation in the form of halls, unless she's guaranteed a halls place, you and your daughter need to be aware of when it's best to look and to understand that it will be stressful and expensive. Second, Dutch universities allow anyone who has passed the equivalent of A-levels regardless of the grade to go to university, in the full knowledge that many will be thrown out at the end of the first year. She can not have the kind of relatively soft first year, students get in Britain. Third, I've been in touch with a number of Dutch institutions over the years asking about provision for students with learning difficulties especially dyslexia; the responses have ranged from good to utterly appalling. You cannot assume that any support will be in place I'm afraid to say and certainly the level of support in Britain is unusually high compared to most of Europe. Depending on how able your daughter is to compensate without support, this really is something I'd check carefully.

bewildered123

One other thing I forgot OP. Banks. Your daughter will not be able to open a student bank account in the UK as you need proof of acceptance from a UK university to do so. In any case, in the Netherlands it is the norm to pay all bills / rent etc through bank transfers so it would cost her a fortune if she didn't open a Dutch bank account. Bank accounts are rarely free but the ones aimed at young people tend to have a low monthly fee in return for a no frills account. She probably shouldn't expect to be able to easily get either an overdraft or credit card though. If she can get a credit card the expectation is that the balance is paid off in full at the end of each month. This doesn't just apply to students, the Netherlands' banking system (like many others in Europe) is averse to letting customers get into unsecured debt (unlike the UK).
Another thing to consider costs wise is that if she gets a job to access the grants then she will almost certainly have to pay for health insurance. I also think that if she stays for more than 1 year then her EHIC card will no longer be valid as she would count as a Dutch rather than UK resident and start having to pay into their public health insurance scheme.
I apologise if these posts seem negative but I think it's important that you are aware as some of the 'go study for free in Europe' articles around at the moment are really a bit misleading. I fully support the idea of more British students studying abroad. I did myself and it was a fantastic experience but there are downsides too.