Tilburg company takes a bite out of the student grants of at least 350 internationals
For a hefty fee, a small company from Tilburg ‘helps’ international students apply for student finance. Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs (DUO) has its doubts, but cannot take action: the company appears to be operating within the bounds of the law.
The company, MyStudentFinance, mainly assists international students in applying for student finance from DUO. ‘No cure, no pay’, MSF advertises on its website. And also: ‘Receive up to 1,300 euros per month’.
But internationals complain that they end up paying far more than expected. The company skims money off the first payment from DUO, which is often higher than internationals anticipate.
Just a loan
‘I only wanted to apply for a basic grant of three hundred euros’, says Finnish student John Nordberg, who is pursuing a master’s degree in Leiden. He expected MyStudentFinance would cost him between one hundred and two hundred euros. In his case, it amounted to 870 euros, because the company arranged a maximum student loan for him without being asked.
When he complained about this to MyStudentFinance, the company quickly emailed back: you never said you did not want a loan. It also referred to its terms and conditions, which state that MyStudentFinance acts as a representative of students ‘when applying for grants and loans from DUO’.
According to the Openbaar Ministerie, what the company is doing is not illegal. Students, however, consider it misleading. ‘I am truly surprised that all this is legally permitted’, says Sarah Evink of the student umbrella organisation Interstedelijk Studenten Overleg (ISO).
Authorisation
Students authorise MyStudentFinance to use their DigiD and must provide extensive information about their employment and their parents’ income. MSF then applies for student finance from DUO. It charges a fee of 59.99 percent of the first payment.
There is a catch, DUO warns. Because students only apply for student finance after they have already arrived in the Netherlands, they often receive ‘three or four months’ worth of student finance in a single payment the first time, according to a spokesperson. MyStudentFinance withholds sixty percent of that total amount.
If students do indeed receive 1,300 euros per month in (supplementary) grants and loans, the first payment can amount to around five thousand euros. Sixty percent of that is three thousand euros. After MSF has skimmed off its share, students can take control of their MijnDUO account.
Distressing
ISO has already received multiple complaints about the company, says chair Sarah Evink. ‘It is distressing to hear that students are spending money on information they can simply obtain from DUO for free.’
ISO hopes that politicians will ban these kinds of commercial practices. But that will not be easy: you are always allowed to hire someone to provide a service, especially if the costs are stated in the terms and conditions.
DUO says: ‘We have also received complaints from international students who felt misled. It is completely unnecessary to pay so much for a service that is essentially free.’
Bank raised the alarm
Last year, a bank called DUO to ask why so much money was being transferred to the bank accounts of a single company. At that moment, 100,000 euros in payments from DUO to those accounts were pending. Due to anti-money laundering regulations, the bank felt obliged to alert DUO. Was everything above board?
When DUO investigated the matter, it turned out that the student finance of some 350 internationals had been paid into around 70 bank accounts. ‘By using so many different bank accounts, the company managed to stay under our radar’, the DUO spokesperson says.
DUO sent a message to all students who were using MyStudentFinance at the time, pointing out that applying is free of charge. Around fifteen responded, DUO says.
Report filed
DUO also filed a report with the police. Is this way of operating lawful? The Openbaar Ministerie investigated the case but decided not to prosecute. ‘It may be morally reprehensible, but it is not a criminal offence’, the Public Prosecution Service told the Higher Education Press Agency.
Students who have started the process must complete the application. Otherwise, the company may charge hundreds of euros in costs. Early in the application process, the company also sends students a PDF containing extensive information about student finance: The Definitive Guide to Dutch Student Finance. If students withdraw during the process, they suddenly have to pay 200 euros for it.
‘It is also my fault that I did not properly read the fine print’, Nordberg says repeatedly. ‘But I thought this was a well-meaning company helping students. But this is sneaky. This was not help. They fooled me. I hope that from now on internationals will simply go to DUO.’ When Nordberg complained about the situation, the company did give him a 200-euro discount.
‘Arrange it yourself in an hour’
According to records from the Chamber of Commerce, MyStudentFinance was set up in 2023 by a Polish man in Tilburg. During its investigation, DUO temporarily suspended payments to the company. But the company’s owner protested, and DUO says it has no legal means to truly intervene.
DUO is exploring with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) whether student finance can be paid only into the student’s own bank account. That is not yet possible, and there are valid reasons for this: for example, students under financial guardianship would then no longer be able to receive student finance.
The agency is asking universities and universities of applied sciences to properly inform their international students. Information about student finance is always free, DUO’s spokesperson emphasises. ‘Internationals can also arrange this themselves in an hour.’
In response to questions from the Higher Education Press Agency, MyStudentFinance texted: ‘We do inform customers of our pricing in advance, not only in the service agreement but also explicitly during sign-up as required by Dutch and EU consumer protection laws.’
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