A letter from DUO: student finance, repayment and the inburgering deadline

DUO runs two different worlds under one name: student finance and civic integration. So a DUO envelope means "money for school" to one person and "the clock on your exams" to another. What its letters have in common is a date, and that date usually means money.

If you are studying

The award letter. It says how much grant and how much loan you get, and when your travel product starts. The income-dependent part (aanvullende beurssupplementary grant · Depends on your parents' income; this is the part you do not repay) is based on your parents' income, so if their situation has changed you can ask for a recalculation.

The performance grant. Most of what you receive is a conditional debt: it becomes a gift if you graduate within the period the system allows, and it stays a debt if you do not. This is the sentence in DUO letters that is misread most often.

The travel product. You have to stop it in the month you finish or leave your studies. If you forget, a fine is charged every month even when you never travel, and it grows quickly. Do not ignore the letter that says your travel product is still active.

When your studies end: repayment

Instalments do not start the day you graduate. First comes a start-up phase (aanloopfasestart-up phase · The period after your studies when repayment has not begun yet), during which you can pay voluntarily if you want to. After that the instalments begin, spread over a long term that depends on which system your debt falls under. Which system that is, and how many years are left, is written in Mijn DUOyour DUO account · The personal page that shows your letters and your debt. Do not guess, look it up.

The part that matters most: the instalment is not fixed, it follows your income. If you earn little, you can have your capacity to pay (draagkrachtcapacity to pay · Your monthly instalment calculated from your income) recalculated, and the amount goes down, sometimes to zero. This does not happen by itself, you have to apply. A month you cannot pay is registered as arrears, even when the rules would have let you pay nothing.

If you need air, there is also a repayment pause (aflospauzerepayment pause · The right to stop repaying for a while). The debt is not cancelled, only postponed, which is still better than going quiet and ending up in collection.

The inburgering side

The letter about your civic integration obligation starts a clock: it says which exams you have to pass and by when. Three things in it matter.

• The end date. If the exams are not finished when the period runs out, a fine follows, and in some cases the loan has to be repaid.
• The extension. Illness, pregnancy or a course that fell apart can be grounds for an extension (verlengingextension of the deadline), but you have to apply before the deadline passes.
• The loan. If you pay for the course with your own loan, the contract letter sets out how it is repaid. Where the municipality covers the course, the bill is not yours.

If you cannot pay

The order is always the same: report your income first so the instalment is recalculated, then ask for a payment plan or a repayment pause, and only then look at debt help. The municipality's free debt service can talk to several bodies at once, which is the practical route when DUO is not your only debt.

If you cannot read the letter

DUO letters are short but sharp: a date, an amount, and a sentence about what happens otherwise. Photograph it with Letrin and see in your own language what is being asked, when the deadline falls and which options you have. It also sets a reminder before that date.

Check the dates and amounts against the paper. Where you are unsure, Juridisch Loket and the municipality's sociaal raadslieden are free.