Politicians would prefer students to keep up the pace. Programs may, for example, dismiss first-year students who fail to earn enough credits. The Schoof administration even wanted to introduce a slow-progress fine for students with more than a year of study delay, but that proposal was scrapped after strong protests.

Research

But where does this delay come from? Students surely have good reasons, thought student organization ISO, which asked research agency ResearchNed to investigate.

The researchers first listed familiar factors: men are more likely to face delays than women, as are students with a migration background and students with a part-time job. Parental income also plays a role.

They also distributed a survey, completed by more than 7,500 students. Of these respondents, 37 percent were behind schedule. What do they see as the cause?

Illness, part-time work, motivation

From a list of options, 22 percent select “illness” and 19 percent choose “part-time job”. Nearly as many point to a lack of motivation. These answers may overlap, as respondents could select up to three options.

The open-ended option (“other”) is chosen most often: 31 percent. However, these responses were not included in the report. Less frequently selected reasons include “wanting to enjoy student life longer” or “too young to start working, so continuing studies longer”—but also “made the wrong study choice” or “the program is too difficult”.

Sometimes students deliberately choose to delay their studies, for example when they become active in an association. Other students knowingly choose a demanding program and accept that this will slow them down. This is true for 20 percent of delayed students who indicated that their program was “too difficult”.

Validated

Student organization ISO feels supported by these findings. According to chair Sarah Evink, the results confirm that students often have good reasons for taking longer to complete their studies. It’s not because they drink too much beer, she remarks pointedly. “If politicians believe study delay is such a major problem, they should ask students how to support them. Let’s stop pretending that pushing students out after the first year because they didn’t earn enough credits is a real solution.”

ISO wants the binding study advice (BSA) to no longer be “binding”, allowing students to decide for themselves whether to continue or switch programs. The organization also advocates for a higher basic student grant so students can spend less time working part time.

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.