Additional tuition fee regulations for EU/EEA students following two study programmes

If you follow a second bachelor’s or a second master’s programme at a Dutch higher education institution after finishing a(n) (earlier) bachelor’s or master’s programme in the Netherlands, then you no longer qualify for the tuition fees that are generally required from students from the EU/EEA or Switzerland or Suriname (the statutory tuition fees), and you will have to pay the higher tuition fees (that is normally required from non-EU/EEA students: the institutional tuition fees) for the second bachelor’s or second master’s programme. This is because the Dutch government in principle (only) subsidises a maximum of one bachelor’s and one master’s programme per student from the EU/EEA (or Switzerland or Suriname).  

There are some exceptions to this rule. You will still be entitled to pay the EU/EEA tuition fees (statutory tuition fees) for the second programme on bachelor's or master's level, if: 

• your second Dutch bachelor’s programme is in the area of healthcare or education, and you have not yet obtained a bachelor’s degree in one of these two areas 
• your second Dutch master’s programme is in the area of healthcare or education, and you have not yet obtained a master’s degree in one of these two areas. 

You can find an overview of all study programmes in the Netherlands in the Central Register for Higher Education Programmes (CROHO) on the DUO website . This list also indicates whether each programme falls into the category of healthcare, education or other. 

In principle, if you follow two Dutch bachelor’s or master’s programmes simultaneously you will only have to pay the tuition fees that students from EU/EEA countries (or Switzerland or Suriname) need to pay (statutory tuition fees) once. This only applies if:  

• you start a second bachelor’s programme while you have not graduated your first bachelor’s programme (for which you pay the statutory fee) and if, after graduation for your first bachelor’s programme, you stay enrolled for the other bachelor’s programme continuously and consecutively (so without interruption). 
• you start a second master’s programme while you have not graduated your first master’s programme (for which you pay the statutory fee) and if, after graduation for your first master’s programme, you stay enrolled for the other master’s programme continuously and consecutively (so without interruption). 

So, if you are enrolled in two bachelor’s or two master’s programmes at the same time, the following rules apply: 

• As long as you have not graduated from either programme, you simply pay the statutory tuition fee once, to allow enrolment for either your bachelor's or your master's programmes for the relevant academic year. 
• After graduation for one of the programmes at the single statutory tuition fee rate, you stay entitled to pay the statutory fee for the other programme (a bachelor if your first study programme was a bachelor, and a master if your first study programme was a master) as long as you remain enrolled and continue your enrolment for this other programme in upcoming academic years without interruption. 

Please note: the two exceptions above do not apply to you if you are following two specialisations within the same bachelor’s or master’s programme: once you have successfully completed all the exam components in one specialisation, you will automatically graduate from your bachelor’s or master’s programme for that specific specialisation. You may then use the remaining period of that same academic year to pass the missing courses of the second specialisation. For this remaining period the tuition fee for EU/EEA students who are pursuing a first bachelor or first master (the statutory tuition fee) applies. However, should a re-enrolment for the following academic year be required to finish the other specialisation, you will then have to pay the tuition fee for EU/EEA students who have already completed a first bachelor or a first master (the institutional tuition fee) for your re-enrolment. After all, you already obtained a bachelor's or master's degree.  
To check whether your situation involves two different bachelor’s/two different master’s programmes or two different specialisations within one bachelor’s or master’s programme, please consult the CROHO registry on the DUO website; only bachelor’s and master’s programmes are listed, specialisations are not.