Financing your Studies in the Netherlands

The Dutch higher education system

The Netherlands runs a binary higher education system with two types of institution. Research universities, called universiteit in Dutch, focus on academic and scientific research. Universities of applied sciences, called hogeschool, focus on professional, career-oriented training. A small number of private universities also exist, where you can study fields such as hospitality and tourism, and their fees are much higher than those at public institutions. The bachelor-master structure was introduced in 2002.

A research university graduate is not bound to a research career. Many go on to work outside research entirely. The choice between the two institution types is about how you learn, not only what you do afterwards.

Research universities (WO)

Research universities, known formally as wetenschappelijk onderwijs (WO), are theoretical and research-oriented. You spend a lot of time in laboratories and gathering data for research. In 2025/26 they taught 333,800 students, a fall of 5,800 on the previous year, with a projected decline to 308,600 by 2031/32. The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is the largest university in the country, and TU Delft is the oldest and largest public technical university.

The degrees offered by research universities are:

• Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts: 3 years, 180 ECTS, mostly theoretical and research-focused. Access is with a VWO diploma or an HBO propedeuse. The bachelor sits at level 6 of the Dutch Qualifications Framework (NLQF).
• Master of Science or Master of Arts: 1 to 2 years. Business and social science masters are often 1 year, science masters often 2 years. A bachelor’s degree is normally required.
• PhD: usually 4 years. Since July 2018 the contract length for employed doctoral candidates is 4 years, with variations by field.

Universities of applied sciences (HBO)

Universities of applied sciences, known formally as hoger beroepsonderwijs (HBO), are practical and profession-oriented, with programmes built around a fixed structure and a strong work-placement element. You work towards a specific profession. This is where most higher education students in the Netherlands study, with more than 400,000 enrolled. In 2025/26 the HBO sector taught about 439,500 students in total, with numbers falling and a projected further drop to 412,800 by 2031.

The degrees offered by universities of applied sciences are:

• Associate degree: a 2-year HBO qualification, introduced in 2006 and sitting between MBO-4 and the HBO bachelor. It lets you move on to a related HBO bachelor.
• Bachelor’s degree: usually 4 years full-time, practice-oriented with an internship and a final project. Access is with an MBO or HAVO diploma. Part-time and dual routes take longer.
• Master’s degree: 1 to 2 years.

The most popular bachelor fields across the Netherlands are law and administration (26 %), health including medicine (16 %), behaviour and society (12 %) and engineering (9 %).

Bachelor’s degree in practice

Many HBO bachelor programmes include a propedeuse, the first year of the bachelor worth 60 ECTS. Complete it, along with all other first-year requirements, and you can continue your studies. An HBO propedeuse (HBO-P) also qualifies you for access to a university (WO) bachelor. The following three years combine classroom learning, work experience and practical knowledge through internships and group projects.

The bachelor at a research university centres on your chosen field, with much of the work done in laboratories and in the field, gathering data and running experiments.

Both types of institution let you take a minor in another field, and at some research universities a minor alongside your major is compulsory. A minor is a coherent package of subjects, usually worth 30 ECTS, taken within the elective part of your bachelor. Through platforms such as Kies Op Maat you can also take one at another institution.

Master’s degree in practice

Once you hold a bachelor’s degree from either type of institution, you can enrol in a master’s programme. At a research university the master prepares you for independent research. At a university of applied sciences it prepares you to take on leadership roles in your field.

International students

In 2025/26, 9 % of HBO students were international. Growth has slowed to +1 %, after +3 % in 2024/25 and +4 % in 2023/24.

Recently added funding for your studies in Netherlands

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The cost of your studies

Tuition fees

Higher education in the Netherlands attracts local and international students alike, and two things drive that: low tuition fees and a comparatively low cost of living. For EU/EEA students the fees are far lower than in a country like the United Kingdom.

If you come from an EEA country, Switzerland or Suriname and do not already hold a comparable degree from a state-funded Dutch institution, you pay the statutory tuition fee (wettelijk collegegeld). For 2026-2027 this is €2,694 per year for full-time study. It was €2,601 in 2025-2026, up from €2,530 in 2024-2025. The old discount that halved the fee in the first year was abolished from 2024/25.

Non-EU/EEA students pay the higher institutional fee (instellingscollegegeld), which varies by programme and institution and typically runs from €9,000 to €22,000 per year. The cheapest bachelors start at €7,000 to €9,500 and masters at €11,000 to €16,000; masters for other international students commonly run €13,000 to €20,000. As an example, TU Delft charges non-EU students about €19,906 per year for 2026-2027. Private universities cost more still, with tuition close to €14,000 per year.

The differences between institutions are large. The University of Amsterdam, for instance, charges non-EEA students €16,670 for a bachelor and €23,455 for a master, and technical and medical programmes cost more again, with a bachelor at a research university reaching over €20,000 a year and medicine climbing to €30,000 or more.

Once you add tuition, insurance, books and study materials together, you can expect to pay in the region of €700 to €900 per month.

Cost of living

Students in the Netherlands mostly live off campus and spend €400 to €600 a month on accommodation, often less when the cost is split between as many as four housemates. Amsterdam is dearer, with a room averaging around €950 a month. Total living costs for a student come to roughly €1,000 to €1,500 a month, covering leisure, food and learning materials. Across Europe more broadly, student living costs average about €1,200 to €1,300 a month, with a room in shared or hall accommodation running €300 to €700.

Funding for a semester or year abroad

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Financing your studies

Around 84 % of all students in the Netherlands receive a grant, scholarship, loan or some combination of the three. Most of the funding comes from government institutions and is open to both local and international students. Grants and loans cover a wide range of costs: not only tuition, but housing, general living costs, school supplies and healthcare. The Dutch government, companies, banks and the universities themselves are the main providers.

Studiefinanciering (student finance from DUO)

The most common way to fund your studies in the Netherlands is Studiefinanciering, the government student finance administered by DUO. Dutch students and many EU students studying in the Netherlands rely on it. It has five parts: the basic grant (basisbeurs), the supplementary grant (aanvullende beurs), the student travel product (studentenreisproduct), an interest-bearing loan (lening) and the tuition fee loan (collegegeldkrediet). It can cover tuition, housing and transport, so it is a practical way to afford the wider costs of studying. You can draw student finance for the full length of your studies, not only the traditional four years.

The basisbeurs was reintroduced for HBO and WO students in the 2023-2024 academic year. Between 2015 and 2023 a pure loan system (leenstelsel) applied instead, and students then had to repay what they borrowed; the reintroduced grant reversed that. The basic grant is a monthly amount you do not have to repay, as long as you finish your studies with a diploma within 10 years.

The monthly amounts for HBO and WO from September 2026 are:

• Basic grant (basisbeurs): €130.21 if you live with your parents (thuiswonend), €324.52 if you live away (uitwonend).
• Supplementary grant (aanvullende beurs): up to €491.08 per month, depending on your parents' income. You get the full amount if their joint income is below €41,500.60.
• Interest-bearing loan (lening): up to €315.17 per month.
• Tuition fee loan (collegegeldkrediet): about €224.50 per month where the statutory fee applies, up to €1,122.50 per month where the institutional fee applies.

Added together, the maximum monthly student finance in 2026 is €1,153.21 for students living at home and €1,347.52 for students living away.

Who qualifies

To receive student finance you must start before your 30th birthday. For HBO and WO there is no minimum age, though for the basisbeurs and loan you must be at least 18 (MBO-BOL is usually from 18). If you turn 30 during your studies the funding continues, but once stopped it cannot be restarted. You need Dutch nationality or a valid residence permit (type II, III or IV).

EU/EEA students qualify if they have lived in the Netherlands for at least five uninterrupted years, or if they are migrant workers in paid employment of at least 32 hours per month, or earning at least 50 % of the social assistance norm (the bijstandsnorm), which is €700.75 net per month in 2026. The working-hours threshold for EU/EEA students was reduced to 32 hours per month from 1 September, down from 56, following a ruling by the Centrale Raad van Beroep.

Prestatiebeurs: turning the grant into a gift

For HBO and WO, the basic grant, supplementary grant and travel product are a prestatiebeurs (performance grant). They become an outright gift if you earn a diploma within 10 years; otherwise you have to repay them. For MBO levels 1 and 2 there is no prestatiebeurs and the amounts are always a gift. DUO usually pays out around the 24th of the month.

Loans and repayment

The collegegeldkrediet is a tuition fee loan open to EU citizens who have been accepted at a Dutch university, and it is especially relevant for master’s students and those at a research university. Rather than a lump sum, it is paid into your bank account each month, and you repay it once your studies are finished.

Repayment works in two phases. A grace period (aanloopfase) of 2 years runs from 1 January after you finish, followed by the repayment phase (aflosfase) of up to 15 or 35 years (SF15 or SF35), depending on your programme and when you started. The interest rate for 2026 is about 2.33 % under the 35-year rule and 2.29 % under the 15-year rule. You repay nothing while your income is below the full-time minimum wage, and repayments are capped at 4 % of gross income above that threshold. To take out a loan you must be under 30, enrolled full-time at a recognised Dutch university and hold a Dutch bank account, so loans are somewhat easier for non-resident students to get than grants.

The Levenlanglerenkrediet (lifelong learning credit) for over-30s

If you are between 30 and 56 and have no right to regular student finance, the levenlanglerenkrediet is a separate loan for tuition or course fees only. It is capped at €13,470 per year for HBO or university study in 2026-2027. The interest rate for 2026 is 2.33 %, and you repay it within 15 years.

The Pechgeneratie compensation

Students who studied between 2015 and 2023 under the loan system got no basic grant and built up higher debt. They receive a compensation payment (tegemoetkoming), and from 2026 an extra €44.50 per month was added.

Scholarships

Some scholarship programmes open to students in the Netherlands include the Holland Scholarship, worth €5,000 per year for a single year, and the NL Scholarship, worth about $5,000 for bachelor or master students. The Netherlands Fellowship Programme is one of the largest government scholarship programmes: it operates in more than 50 countries, is funded entirely by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is administered by the Dutch organisation responsible for international cooperation in higher education. Competition is fierce, only a small share of the thousands of applicants win an award, and you need at least 3 years of work experience to apply.

Netherlands fellowships can also be substantial: the NIAS fellowships, for example (such as the NIAS Safe Haven), pay a monthly stipend of up to €3,500. Many scholarships require you to maintain a certain grade average.

The Fulbright Netherlands programme funds US students; the application deadline is 6 October 2026 for the 2027-2028 year, with the grant starting in 2027.

Erasmus+

Erasmus+ is the EU’s own mobility programme, funded by the European Commission, with a budget of €26.2 billion for 2021-2027. It is open to bachelor, master and doctoral students and covers 2 to 12 months per study phase (classic mobility runs one semester up to 12 months at a partner university). At the host university you are exempt from tuition fees, and you get support towards travel and living costs; the monthly grant varies by country.

Student jobs

Working while studying is common in the Netherlands. EU students may work without any limit, on the same terms as Dutch students. Non-EU students face more hurdles: you need a work permit (a TWV, which the employer applies for), and you may work no more than 16 hours per week, though full-time work is allowed in June, July and August, and compulsory internships do not count towards the limit.

Earnings while studying are lightly taxed. In 2026 you can earn around €11,357 a year tax-free, with an income limit of about €40,857 a year.

Research funding

Research funding is aimed at researchers rather than students, but it is worth knowing the main routes: NWO, Health~Holland (its Science for Industry Call 2026 involves at least €5 million in public-private partnership), M-ERA.NET and Horizon Europe. Older programmes in this area included ERA-NET and the Researchers and Research for Industry grants.