In 2017 the Dutch government introduced a new loan to cover the tuition fees of students between the ages of 30 and 55.
The lifelong learning loan is available for all Bachelor’s or Master’s students on recognised degree courses at Dutch universities. It doesn’t matter if you are studying full-time or part-time.
There are some conditions you need to meet to be eligible for the lifelong learning loan.
You must not be eligible for regular student loans (this could be an issue if you start your studies before your 30th birthday and conclude them afterwards – in that case, Collegegeldkrediet and possibly Studiefinanciering will be available to you throughout your entire studies).
You must be paying for your education yourself. If your parents, an employer or someone else is paying your fees, you will not be eligible for the loan.
You must be an EU/EEA national or have one of several types of residence permits for the Netherlands.
The loan will only ever cover the cost of tuition. If you are studying a Master’s degree at a University of Applied Science this will include the higher institutional fee that is charged. For most other degrees it will cover the statutory fee of €2,083 per year (2019/20).
You can receive the loan for a maximum of four years for full-time students or five years for part-time students.
In common with Collegeldkrediet, the loan will be paid to you in twelve monthly instalments of around €171.67 each for most full-time students.
Interest will be charged on your loan from the day you take it out. The current effective rate of interest is 0.00%. After you graduate, the rate of interest will be fixed for a five-year period. Ordinarily you will repay the loan over a 15 year period. Any amount not repaid after 15 years will be written off.
Repayments are calculated based on your income after you graduate. If you are earning less than €16,597 (single person) or €23,710 (with dependants) you will not have to repay anything. While it is not possible to give exact details of what this means in reality, assuming you returned to the UK upon graduation as a single person and earned £25,000 (the current threshold for repayment of UK student loans) you would have to repay around £105 a month (£47.57 for those with families). These calculations are based on an exchange rate of £1 =€1.14. In both cases you would repay the loan in full comfortably within 15 years.
You can apply for the Lifelong Learning Loan here.
You will need a DigiD in order to apply for the loan and as such, you cannot apply until you have an address in The Netherlands. If you need help, the best people to contact are DUO and you can do that by phone +31 50 599 98 28 or by email to levenlanglerenkrediet@duo.nl.