- Tuition fees
- DUO Student Finance
- Scholarships
- Finding a student job
Tuition fees
Studying costs money. You can see the tuition fees below. These are the same for all public HBO and WO universities and rise every year.
Academic year 2025/26 (full-time)
| EU/EEA nationals pursuing their first (Dutch) diploma of this type | Non-EU nationals |
| 2600 EUR/year | 9000-25000 EUR/year depending on the institution |
There are exceptions for certain residence permits such as type II, III, and European Blue Card. Please check out this page to understand which fees you have to pay: https://duo.nl/particulier/tuition-fees.jsp
Tuition fees do not include costs related to visa, residence permit, registration, health insurance, public transport, housing, … – it’s just allowing you to come in and sit at a table.
DUO Student Finance
EU/EEA students can be eligible for “free” money from the Dutch government. Take a look at our dedicated article here.
Scholarships
The Netherlands generally does not offer scholarships. There are a few scholarships available for non-EU students but it is expected that if you choose to study here, you can fully finance it with daddy’s money.
Top-performing non-EU/EEA students are eligible to apply for a one-time 5000 EUR scholarship called “NL Scholarship” (formerly Holland Scholarship): https://www.studyinnl.org/finances/nl-scholarship
List of scholarships: https://www.studyinnl.org/finances/scholarships
Finding a student job
You may want to take on a part-time job to fund your studies in The Netherlands. This is quite common.
Step-by-step list:
- Understand your study workload
Check with current students of the program how they experienced the workload and how many hours they worked on the side (if any). Please prioritize your studies and not your minimum-wage food delivery career. - Ensure you are allowed to work
As a non-EU national on a student visa, you are only allowed to work up to 16 hours. Your (future) employer has to apply for a work permit for you as well. There is no limit (or at least no difference from Dutch nationals) for EU/EEA nationals. - Find a job
Typical student jobs entail:
- Food delivery (Thuisbezorgd, Flink)
- Restaurant (washer, server)
- Supermarket (restocking, Albert Heijn, Jumbo, Aldi, Lidl)
- Retail
Being a Teacher’s Assistant (TA) is not as common in The Netherlands as in North America. Do not expect to immediately find A job related to your studies.
- Apply
You can usually apply online or go with a printed CV and contact details to local stores.
- Start your job
Congratulations! Expect your employer to ask for your BSN. They need this information to inform the tax office of your income and paid benefit contributions. They will also ask if you want to make use of loonheffingskorting. This is a “tax discount” allowing you to get paid out the majority of your salary instead of your employer sending 30% of your income to the tax office. For part-time minimum wage student jobs, it is generally recommended to make use of the tax discount as you will not make as much that you would fall in a higher tax bracket. In either case, file your income tax report afterward and hope to get some money back. - Get paid
Check your first payslips to make sure all details including your wage and worked hours make sense. Some employers are quite sketchy with this.
- Get health insured
When working in The Netherlands, you are required to take out basic Dutch health insurance. No, your European home-countries EHIC insurance will no longer be permitted. See our chapter on health insurance for more information to avoid getting a fine.
More information on the tax discount (loonheffingskorting): https://www.recruitastudent.nl/en/blog/financial-matters/what-is-loonheffingskorting-tax-discount-and-does-it-apply-to-me
What is the minimum wage?
The minimum wage in the Netherlands is based on your age. This may sound unfair, but it is meant to encourage younger students to stay living with their parents and not move out at the age of 16 to work full-time.
Minimum hourly wages:
https://www.government.nl/topics/minimum-wage/minimum-wage-amounts
As mentioned, do not expect to make much more than this during a part-time student job. Luckily, you won’t have to pay a lot of taxes on this salary. You get 8% holiday pay (usually paid out in May) and 8% paid vacation hours in addition to these numbers.
Work permit for non-EU/EEA nationals
A work permit is not a work visa. As a non-EU/EEA student on a student visa, your future employer has to apply for a work permit for you. This is nothing you can do yourself. A work permit allows the employer to employ you as a non-EU/EEA national, assuming there are not enough Dutch and EU/EEA nationals to do the job. Large corporations are more likely to apply for a permit than your neighborhood grocery store. Thuisbezorgd (Just Eat) will do that within a few weeks, for example.
You are only allowed to work up to 16 hours every week; expect to be scheduled for less time as they don’t want to risk a fine in case of overtime.
This country is expecting you to have enough money or parental support to fully sustain yourself for the duration of your studies. Do not come to the Netherlands if you cannot guarantee this.
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