Severe penalties for basic grant fraud

All parties agreed on a new bill Tuesday that has to tackle student grant fraud. Students who cheat more than once are no longer entitled to the basic student grant from the government.

Currently it is still attractive for students who live with their parents to claim living away from home. This way they receive a higher student grant. The chance of being caught was about nil, but that will change from now on. The money wrongly claimed has to be paid back and in addition the student will be severely punished with fines of up to 100 percent of the money wrongly claimed. If a student commits a second grant fraud he or she will forever lose his student grant.

Secretary of State Halbe Zijlstra will leave room for exceptions, but when students cannot register with the municipality because a landlord forbids them to, they must be able to provide proof.