Withdrawing during your 1st year
Are you in secondary vocational education (MBO) level 3 or 4? Or are you in university or higher vocational education (HBO)? If you withdraw during the 1st year and stop your student finance no later than 1 February, you will not have to repay your grant and travel product. This is known as the ‘1st of February scheme’. Of course, you will still have to repay any student loan that you have received.
Conditions of the ‘1st of February scheme’
- You are receiving student finance for the first time for secondary vocational education (MBO) level 3 or 4, higher vocational education (HBO), or university.
- You have stopped your student finance no later than 1 February.
- You will not be receiving student finance again in the same academic year. There are 2 exceptions to this condition:
- You are transferring from university or higher vocational education (HBO) to secondary vocational education (MBO), regardless of level.
- You are transferring from secondary vocational education (MBO) level 3 or 4 to MBO level 1 or 2.
You can make use of the ‘1st of February scheme’ once for secondary vocational education (MBO) and once for university or higher vocational education (HBO). The student finance you received in the months leading up to February count as months of student finance already used. They will not form part of your entitlement at a later date.
If you are studying at university or higher vocational education (HBO), this rule applies even if you started your studies from 1 February. In that case, you have to stop your student finance no later than 1 September and you will not be entitled to student finance for a programme at university or higher vocational education (HBO) until 1 February of the following academic year.
Applying for the ‘1st of February scheme’
- Log in to My DUO to stop your student finance.
- Cancel your student travel product.
- You will receive automatic notification that the debt for your student grant and your travel product has been cancelled. This notification is sent approximately one year later, in January.
Do you meet the conditions for the ‘1st of February’ scheme but did you withdraw from your MBO programme before the 2017-2018 academic year? In that case you have to apply for the ‘1st of February’ scheme yourself. There is a special application form for MBO students. Submit the form within 10 years and 3 months of the 1st month in which you received student finance.
Checklist
Have you cancelled your student finance and student travel product? You can check in My DUO that everything has been processed correctly:
- You will no longer see any payments listed on the ‘Mijn producten’ tab.
- You will see a notification that your student travel product has been deactivated. And in ‘Mijn berichten’ you have received a confirmation that your student finance has been stopped.
Debt will remain visible for a while
Is the academic year in which you withdrew over? In that case, we will convert your grant in January of the next academic year. Until that time, the grant you have received from DUO will still be visible as a debt.
Refund of course fees or tuition fees
Have you withdrawn from secondary vocational education (MBO)? In that case, you are often required to pay the course fees for the entire school year. Only in specific situations are you entitled to a refund of course fees. You need to apply for this refund yourself.
To obtain a refund of tuition fees for university or higher vocational education (HBO), you can only contact your university or university of applied sciences (HBO institution).