Hier mijn betoog: (deels engels en deels Nederlands)
Good morning, I am Serap, welcome to my speech. I am here to talk to you about what I believe
Ik wil eerst wat vertellen over mezelf.
Ik zit in mijn zesde leerjaar van mijn HBO-rechten opleiding en ik ontvang geen studiefinanciering meer. Ook heb ik geen studenten OV-chipkaart meer waarmee ik gratis kan reizen. Ik weet hoe het voelt om alle studiekosten zelf te moeten betalen. 1835 euro collegegeld per jaar plus 330 euro per maand om te kunnen reizen naar school. Hiernaast moet ik ook nog eens geld lenen. Ik werk hard om mijn studie te kunnen betalen. Mijn ouders verdienen niet zoveel geld. Zij kunnen mij niet helpen met mijn schoolkosten. Ik werk naast mijn studie 35 uur per week in een restaurant om mijn schoolgeld te kunnen betalen. Om te kunnen studeren hou ik weinig tijd over en dat doe ik na mijn werk meestal. Een van de redenen dat ik in mijn zesde jaar zit is ook omdat ik te veel werk en te weinig tijd heb om te kunnen studeren. Wie van jullie ontvangt er geen studiefinanciering?
Vier jaar lang heb ik studiefinanciering ontvangen. Toen ging alles gemakkelijker. Ik had meer tijd om te studeren, omdat ik niet zoveel hoefde te werken. Als ik vier jaar lang geen studiefinanciering had ontvangen was ik allang gestopt met deze opleiding, omdat ik het niet zou kunnen betalen. While the scholarship is one of the most important necessities for students, the government is of the opinion that students should pay their own study. A new system will be introduced, the so-called “sociaal leenstelsel”. The government will introduce the new system in the study year 2015-2016. The new system will only apply to new students. Students have to borrow money and repay it back after their graduation. Wat vinden jullie van deze leenstelsel? Kunnen de mensen die hier tegen zijn hun hand opsteken?
Ik ben van mening dat de studiefinanciering niet afgeschaft mag worden.
First of all, did you know that borrowing money for four years results on average into a debt of about EUR 30,000. A student must be in a strong position to borrow money, without any guarantee on a future employment. Research from the National Student Union, commissioned by the Ministry of Education, shows that students indeed do not dare to take this risk. They see borrowing money as one of their biggest fears. This already has caused that 20% of young people think they will stop studying if the scholarship will stop. Based on the research it is clear that the scholarship is essential and that the accessibility to studying will decrease if the new system will be introduced. According to the Groninger University newspaper, the prospect of being stuck to a large debt for many years scares off prospective students. For example, people with a high student debt often have a lot of trouble later with getting a mortgage for buying a house.
Secondly
If the scholarship gets abolished, Students will try to reduce their financial shortcomings by working more. Net zoals ik dit heb gedaan. Almost all students agree that this will lead to less time spent on the study, and that this will lead to poor study results. All of this will result into a lowering of the success rate. Instead of encouraged, students are discouraged in developing their talents. However, Halbe Zijlstra, politician from the VVD, believes that abolition of the scholarship will increase the success rate. He says: "I believe that cutting back on the higher education ultimately means an investment in the quality of higher education."
Students will realize that they have to work harder to get their degrees as quickly as possible but that does not mean that the quality of education will be improved.
Thirdly, If the scholarship stop, there will be less equality between generations after a generation of student who ended with no dept, now there will be a generation that has to pay all the money back.
As I said students will start their careers with a debt. This prospect scares many young people off, and student will try to reduce their financial shortcomings by working more, what will lead to poor study results and there wil be less equality between the generations. On the basis of the above arguments, ben ik van mening should the studentgrant not be abolished.
Do not save on the future of the Netherlands and our students!
Thank you
