Erasmus University Rotterdam - Collegegeldvrij Besturen: tuition-free board year

Collegegeldvrij Besturen: tuition-free board year

You pay no tuition fee for one academic year while you serve full time on the board of a recognised student organisation or on the University Council of Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR). The Dutch statutory tuition fee, roughly 2,000-2,500 EUR for the year, drops to zero. This is a fee waiver, not a cash payment. You can combine it with a board grant (bestuursbeurs), a monthly payment for board members.

The waiver works in two ways. Either you stay enrolled but skip your classes and exams for the year, so you keep any right to Dutch state student finance through DUO. Or you do not enrol at all and pay nothing, but then you get no DUO support and cannot attend classes.

Who can apply

• Your board role is at EUR: You sit on the board of a student organisation recognised by the university's Executive Board, or on the University Council.
• Full-time position: Your role runs full time, counted as 1,680 hours or 9 grant months.
• Board grant: You receive a bestuursbeurs (board grant) for the role.
• Any field, any nationality: All study programmes and all nationalities can apply. What matters is your board role at EUR.
• If you stay enrolled: You are enrolled in a first-degree programme (initiële opleiding) at EUR and sign a statement giving up classes, exams and supervision for the whole year.
• If you do not enrol: You were a full-time EUR student the previous year, paid tuition, have not yet graduated, and promise to re-enrol the following year. This route is only for student-organisation boards, not the University Council.

How to apply

You get the application form through your student organisation or the University Council in August. If you stay enrolled, first go through Studielink up to the payment step and choose to pay via the institution. Submit the form by 15 August of the relevant academic year.

How realistic are your chances?

This is not a competition but a rule-based waiver. If you hold a qualifying full-time board role and receive a board grant, you are entitled to it. The one hurdle is the entry condition: you need a real full-time board position at a recognised EUR organisation. Meet that and apply by 15 August, and the waiver follows.