In the coming academic year every student at TU/e will be able to spread their payment of the tuition fee over ten installments. In consultation with members of the University Council, the Education and Student Service Center (STU) will pilot this approach. In the current academic year 3,767 students are already using the option of paying in installments. This is 35 percent of the total number of students.

Itzel Belderbos of the Eindhoven Student Council revealed in a column at the end of April that her faction is strongly in favor of payment in ten installments, "because, after all, most of a student's money matters are settled monthly".

Belderbos referred to the payment of telephony costs and rent. Furthermore, she said, student sources of income tend to run to a monthly rhythm, such as the care allowance, student grants, a loan or parental contribution, and any earnings from part-time work. That the tuition fee has been payable until now either as a lump sum or in five installments, she  described as "seemingly contradictory compared to the other payments".

Extra work

“This coming academic year STU will be starting a pilot. This will involve looking at how students experience the new regime as well as whether paying in ten installments creates extra work,” explains Marcel Visschers, policy officer at STU. According to Visschers, all the ins and outs of the pilot will soon be included in the information provided as part of the enrollment process.

The international student population will also be able to participate in the pilot. Like Dutch students, students from within the European Economic Area (EEA) are already able to pay their tuition fee in installments. Non-EEA students have that option as of their second academic year. Visschers: “Owing to the visa procedure, this last-mentioned group of students pays their first-year tuition fee as a lump sum.”

The pros and cons of the new initiative will be examined at the end of August 2018. This will inform the Executive Board's decision whether or not to continue the pilot.