Tuition fees for British students at Dutch universities in 2020

We still don’t know anything for sure but as this is a real issue for students planning their future right now, hopefully the following update will be helpful.

The Dutch government agreed to guarantee tuition fees for British students who start their studies before 31st October 2019. They were under no obligation and there is no reason to believe this will definitely happen in the event of a new departure date being guaranteed.

For EU nationals, tuition fees at Dutch universities have been set at €2,143 for academic year 2020/21.

Assuming a hard Brexit, or any deal that excludes freedom of movement (ie. guaranteed equal treatment of all people with EU nationality) tuition fees for British students at Dutch universities will increase in 2020. In the event of a hard Brexit on 31st October 2019, it is extremely likely that British students will have to pay full international fees. These range from around €8,000 a year for most degrees in business, arts and humanities, to around €11,000 for science subjects, €12,000 for liberal arts programmes and €32,000 a year for medicine. For most subjects this will be similar to UK tuition fees. However, it is important to mention that access to loans for tuition fees will stop when we leave.

In the event of a transition period being agreed or a further delay to 31st October deadline, there might be a short period before this change comes into effect. Tuition fees cannot increase while a transition period is in place. If our departure date is pushed back again, it is possible that any student who starts their degree before that date or the expiry of the transition period might be granted the same terms and conditions regarding tuition fees as those students who have just started at Dutch universities in September 2019. The Dutch government has been generous in guaranteeing them EU fees for the duration of their degree but that does not set a precedent that can be relied upon. It is the UK government’s pursuit of the impossible that is causing these delays and it is unrealistic to expect any other country to continue making allowances for each new deadline. The Dutch definitely do not want to penalise British students but at some point Brexit is going to mean dealing with the consequences of Brexit.