More than one million people currently have debts to repay to student finance provider DUO. If they fail to do so, debt collectors may be sent after them. At least, if DUO knows where they live.

Former students can move abroad and disappear from view. After a certain period of time, the debt then expires. The government is frustrated by this and wants to make it easier for DUO to track these people down.

Last year, around 21,000 former students could not be reached, according to the explanatory memorandum accompanying a draft legislative proposal on student finance. That amounts to about one in fifty. As a result, 170 million euros could not be collected.

Higher amount

The amount is higher than before, and the government expects it to continue rising in the coming years. In 2018, the losses—involving roughly the same number of former students—amounted to only 76 million euros.

It may not always be intentional. Some former students forget to update their address or assume everything will sort itself out automatically once they register in their new place of residence. But if things go wrong, they fall behind on payments and additional costs are added on top.

“These collection costs continue to increase as the overdue debt grows,” the government writes. “It is therefore in both the interest of the debtor and the government that debtors remain reachable at all times.”

Phone  

The government therefore wants to require students and former students to remain reachable by email, phone, and mail. Within the Netherlands, this happens almost automatically thanks to residents registering with their municipality. Abroad, however, things work differently.

For example, if former students are traveling around the world or move frequently, they may soon also be allowed to provide a contact person, such as a friend or family member. They themselves will remain responsible.

Ten-year limitation period

At the same time, the government wants to extend the statute of limitations on such claims from five years to ten years. The explanatory memorandum states: “This prevents a debtor from repaying only a small part of his or her student debt simply because he or she resides abroad and is therefore unreachable for DUO.”

In addition, according to the legislative proposal, DUO should be given better tools to trace these students abroad. To make this possible, the agency must be allowed to exchange data with other countries. For example, if a former student lives in Belgium or Germany, DUO should be able to request that person’s contact details from local authorities. At present, this is not automatically permitted.

“The expectation is that the number of countries exchanging data will grow,” the government writes. Authorities in other countries will then also begin requesting information from DUO.

Passport

According to the government, exchanging data is less intrusive than the only measure DUO currently has at its disposal: the so-called passport alert system. “Under this system, a debtor’s Dutch travel document may be denied or declared invalid in cases involving large student debts and a failure to repay,” the government states. In some cases, this may be disproportionate, it adds.

The exchange of data has another advantage: DUO would then be able to check whether international students are receiving student grants from two countries at the same time. This is not allowed under the rules, but currently cannot be verified.

The legislative proposal has not yet been submitted to the House of Representatives. It has been published online for public consultation. Anyone can submit feedback so the proposal can potentially be improved.

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