A small company in Tilburg is charging a hefty fee to ‘assist’ international students with their student finance applications. The Education Executive Agency (DUO) questions the practice, but is unable to do anything about it as the company appears to be operating within the law.

The Tilburg-based company MyStudentFinance focuses on supporting international students with their student finance applications to DUO. “No cure, no pay”, MSF advertises on its website. They also promise students they will “Receive up to 1,300 euros per month”.

However, international students complain they have to pay much more than they expected. The company skims money off the first payment they receive from DUO, which is often higher than international students anticipate.

Just a loan

‘I only wanted to apply for a basic student grant of 300 euros’, says Finnish student John Nordberg, who is enrolled in a Master’s programme in Leiden. He expected MyStudentFinance to cost him between 100 and 200 euros. However, he ended up paying MSF 870 euros, because the company arranged the maximum student loan for him without being asked.

When he complained to MyStudentFinance, the company quickly emailed back that he hadn’t said he didn’t want a loan. It also referred to its general terms and conditions, which state that MyStudentFinance acts as a representative of students “when submitting applications for grants and loans to DUO”.

According to the Public Prosecution Service, what the company is doing is not illegal. But students find it misleading. ‘I’m really surprised that all of this is legal’, says Sarah Evink of the Dutch National Students’ Association (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.

DUO warns that there is a catch. Since students apply for student finance only after they are in the Netherlands, they often receive their first payment as a lump sum covering ’three or four months’, says a spokesperson. Of that total amount, MyStudentFinance keeps sixty percent.

If students do receive 1,300 euros per month in supplementary and other grants and loans, the first payment may amount to around 5,000 euros. Sixty percent of that amount is 3,000 euros. After MSF has skimmed off its share, students can take over the MijnDUO account.

Distressing

Student umbrella organisation ISO has already received several complaints about the company, says chair Sarah Evink. ‘It is distressing to hear that students are spending money on information they can simply obtain for free from DUO.’ ISO hopes politicians will ban this kind of commercial practice. But that will not be easy, as people are allowed to hire others to provide a service, especially if the costs are stated in the general terms and conditions.

DUO says: ‘We have also received complaints from international students who felt misled. It’s completely unnecessary to pay so much for a service that’s actually 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 discovered that the student grants of 350 international students had been paid into around seventy bank accounts. ‘By using so many different bank accounts, the company managed to stay under our radar’, says the DUO spokesperson.

DUO sent a message to all students using MyStudentFinance at the time to point out that student finance applications are free of charge. About fifteen people replied, says DUO.

Police report

DUO also filed a police report. Are these activities lawful? The Public Prosecution Service investigated the matter but did not proceed with prosecution. ‘It may be morally reprehensible, but it’s not a criminal offence’, the Public Prosecution Service told the Higher Education Press Agency.

Once students have started the application process they must complete it. Otherwise, the company can charge hundreds of euros in costs. Early in the application process, the company also sends students a PDF containing extensive information about student financing: The Definitive Guide to Dutch Student Finance. If students withdraw during the process, they have to pay 200 euros in costs.

‘It’s also my fault for not reading the fine print properly’, Nordberg says repeatedly. ‘But I thought this was a well-meaning company that helped students. This is sneaky, though. They didn’t help me. They fooled me. I hope that from now on, international students will simply go to DUO.’ After Nordberg complained about the situation, the company gave him a 200 euro discount.

‘Arrange this themselves in an hour’

According to Chamber of Commerce records, 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 intervene.

DUO is exploring with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science whether student financing could be paid only into students’ own accounts. This is not yet possible, and for good reason: for example, students under financial guardianship would then no longer be able to receive student financing.

The agency is asking higher education institutions to properly inform their international students. Information about student finance is always free, the DUO spokesperson emphasises. ‘International students can also arrange this themselves in an hour.’

When asked by HOP, MyStudentFinance replied: ‘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.’