Why not a well-studied bonus instead of a long-term study penalty?
Instead of a long-term study penalty, where students are punished, a bonus for universities if students graduate on time. This ‘well-studied bonus’ is an idea from Erik Boels, head of finance at the UvA. “The threat hanging over students’ heads if something goes wrong is no fun.”
The long-term study penalty is making a comeback. From 2026, students who take longer than agreed will have to pay 3,000 euros extra a year on top of their tuition fees. This will further increase the already considerable pressure on students, notes Erik Boels, head of finance at the UvA. He came up with an alternative: the well-studied bonus.
“The basic idea is very simple,” says Boels. It leans on the idea of the long-term study penalty as presented in the outline agreement by the new cabinet. Those who study longer than agreed upon, get a fine. Boels reverses this. Instead, his idea is that universities get a bonus for students who graduate nominally or have a maximum of one year’s delay.
“The long-term study penalty has many disadvantages for students,” Boels says. “That threat hanging over their heads if something goes wrong, if they fall ill or a loved one gets sick, is no fun.” The penalty is mostly felt by groups that tend to do less well, like mbo’ers that continue studying at (applied) universities, students without rich parents or students with a non-western migration background, Boels writes in a blog on the UvA site. And that is why he came up with the well-studied bonus as an alternative.
Boels: “The most important argument for reintroducing the long-term study penalty is the tight labour market. Students who graduate faster can enter the labour market immediately. They generate money for the government in the form of social contributions and taxes. This bonus is also a solution that is more student-friendly. Those who fail to finish their study on time will not have the threat of a penalty hanging over their heads like the sword of Damocles.”
The long-term study penalty was introduced before in 2012, and at that time it was mainly intended for austerity. Now it is meant to counter shortages on the labour market. The fine then, as now, was 3000 euros for every year a student took too long to study.
After the governmental decision, thousands of students demonstrated. And with success: when the government fell shortly after the implementation of the penalty, the fine did not return. “This shows how important it is for students to stand up for their interests,” Boels said.
Will it take all the pressure away? After all, for institutions, it is still attractive if students graduate quickly. Isn’t there still pressure, but this time coming from the university? According to Boels, this is not the case. “Studying well in this case does mean graduating faster, but for those who don't want to or can't, there is the possibility to study longer without hefty extra costs in the form of a penalty.’
Moreover, an institution like the UvA is large: there are students who graduate nominally and students who take longer. Ultimately, according to Boels, the different fees largely balance each other out, and a university like the UvA can bear this well.
The Marker, BNNVARA, LSVb and FNV Young & United joined forces in a petition to get the long-study fine taken off the table again. The petition, called ‘De groeten met je boete’ (Say goodbye to your fine) can be signed here.
Boels calculates the benefits. Now, as a bonus, the UvA gets 4,549 euros per (alpha-gamma) degree of a student who graduates nominally or takes one year longer. His advice: increase this bonus to 5,549 euros per student and lower the fee when students take longer than the deadline. This way, it does not cost the government any extra money.
And it does generate extra money for the government. Boels calculates that a student earns the treasury 10,000 euros a year in taxes and social security contributions. He looked at what students earn on average after graduation and how much they pay the government.
