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Fewer young people move to student cities

02 Jan 2017

Young people stay in their parents' home longer, statistics from Statistics Netherlands show. The most sensible explanation for that is the loan system. Nijmegen is not doing very well.

The data Statistics Netherlands analysed concern young adults in the 17 to 22 age group. The number of moves in this group decreased 4 percent for the period between July and October, compared with 2015. Within that time frame, universities expect many young students, because of the start of the new academic year. In 2015, when the national student grant was abolished and the loan system was installed, the decrease was even larger: 14 percent.

When Syrian young adults are left out of the calculations, the decrease is even bigger: not 4, but 7 percent. Many (young) refugees were assigned a house in 2016.

By city
If you look at the decrease in every city, Nijmegen is not doing very well. Only Utrecht, Amsterdam and Tilburg are showing a larger decrease than Nijmegen. Eindhoven, Leiden and Wageningen recovered since 2015, when all cities had to deal with a decrease. In absolute numbers, the number of students who moved to Nijmegen is 177 students smaller than in 2015.

Jan Sinnige, of national student organisation ISO, says he is worried about this development. He tells news agency ANP that student cities should not become strongholds for rich kids. ‘It should be possible for every student to leave home and move to a university city, and not just for the ones with the rich parents.’

Young people moving to student cities
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1 Comment

  1. Herman wrote on 2 januari 2017 at 15:59

    “Fewer” i.p.v. “less”
    “July” i.p.v. “juli”
    “October” i.p.v. “october”
    – verder mooi artikel, waarvoor dank.

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