The total student debt increased one billion since last year, data from the Central Bureau of Statistics show. The debt has risen rapidly since 2015, when the basic scholarship was abolished.

In particular, the debt of people between the ages of 25 and 30 has gone up. It is now 24.6 thousand euros on average, about five thousand euros more than in 2021. “People between the ages of 25 and 30 took little or no advantage of the basic scholarship and were only able to borrow money,” notes CBS. “On top of that, they have  had little time to pay off their debt.”

But now the basic scholarship is back and that effect is already visible. People between the ages of 20 and 25 owe an average of 13.1 thousand euros to DUO, compared to 13.9 thousand euros last year. For the first time since 2016, this amount has decreased.

There are also slightly fewer people with student debt: there are still more than 1.6 million, but compared to last year there are almost 13 thousand fewer. CBS' explanation: fewer students applied for loans.

Up to ten thousand euros

About half of the people with a student debt have a debt under ten thousand euros, while there are also 138 thousand people with student debt over 50 thousand euros. Note that these are the current study debts, including those who have almost finished paying off their debt and after about fifteen years have hardly any debt left.