[triangle_eyes]

(Original post by Mufasaa)
Just got an email from them saying I need to prove my dutch residency by mid-august or I have to pay 7,500 euros, although the extra on top of the 1,700 is refundable if I can prove my residency at a later date. I quite frankly don't have the means to pay this. All along I've been told 1,700, every person I've spoken to, every e-mail I've read, ever website I've been on or linked to. This is ludicrous.

That's ridiculous! I don't have that much to pay outright :/

Have you even got your confirmation from the uni? As although I know I was in the ranking they STILL haven't confirmed my place...and they said they'd get sent out on the 17th. It's all so last minute


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[choco12323]

(Original post by Mufasaa)
Just got an email from them saying I need to prove my dutch residency by mid-august or I have to pay 7,500 euros, although the extra on top of the 1,700 is refundable if I can prove my residency at a later date. I quite frankly don't have the means to pay this. All along I've been told 1,700, every person I've spoken to, every e-mail I've read, ever website I've been on or linked to. This is ludicrous.

As long as you can prove you are a resident in the EU you will being paying around 1,700 a year for tuition. Read more about it here http://www.rug.nl/prospectiveStudent...ps/tuitionFees

I've also read that it is possible to get a student loan for tuition fee's that you can pay back after graduating however in order to apply for these you have to:

-be under the age of 30 when you apply for loan tuition fees for the first time
-be enrolled as a full-time student for an accredited course at a funded or recognized institute of higher education or university. Take a course in the Netherlands that qualifies for an allowance or a grant.
-have a citizen service number (in Dutch: burgerservicenummer) in the Netherlands
-have a bank account, other than a savings account.

Find out more information here: http://duo.nl/international_visitors...ition_fees.asp

So basically it looks like we can't sort these things until we are living in Groningen as we have to register at their City Hall. But this should be fine as I got this information in an email "The GBA administration of Groningen has reserved a few special days to speed up the registration of international students in the GBA of Groningen. During the Introduction days you will be able to make an appointment for one of these days. After registration at City Hall and once your GBA address is confirmed, the tuition fee will be adjusted."

So basically the process for registering for EU tuition fees will be made easier and as soon as that's sorted all will be fine! Just make sure you have the documents outlined here with you http://www.rug.nl/prospectivestudent...rationTownHall

Hope this clears up a few things!

[choco12323]

(Original post by Mufasaa)
Just got an email from them saying I need to prove my dutch residency by mid-august or I have to pay 7,500 euros, although the extra on top of the 1,700 is refundable if I can prove my residency at a later date. I quite frankly don't have the means to pay this. All along I've been told 1,700, every person I've spoken to, every e-mail I've read, ever website I've been on or linked to. This is ludicrous.

This is the full message sent to everyone by University just incase you want some more reassurance:

Automated Messages from DUO/Studielink

Automated Messages
Recently you may have received messages from DUO/Studielink about registration at City Hall, GBA address, high tuition fee and uploading a passphoto for your student card. On this page we will clarify these messages some more and tell you what these messages mean for you.

NON-EU students: the high tuition fee is correct and you can transfer the amount directly to the university before departure or through the faculty together with your Living Expenses Deposit.

GBA address for EU students: According to Dutch Law and regulations students studying at a Dutch institution should live in The Netherlands (or neighbouring regions) and be registered in the Municipal Personal Records Database (GBA) to qualify for the EU tuition fee of 1771 Euro. As long as you have not registered in this database, you will be charged the high tuition fee and will receive messages about this. Please don’t worry, the only thing you have to do, is to meet this requirement upon arrival and go to the City Hall of Groningen with your new housing details. Please check the website for further details on documents you need to bring. The GBA administration of Groningen has reserved a few special days to speed up the registration of international students in the GBA of Groningen. During the Introduction days you will be able to make an appointment for one of these days. After registration at City Hall and once your GBA address is confirmed, the tuition fee will be adjusted.

Photo for student card: Please upload your passphoto in time. If your enrolment is completed, your student card can be processed.

So don't stress, all is fine (as long as you arrive in Gronigen intime for this introduction week, haha!)

[Mufasaa]

(Original post by triangle_eyes)
That's ridiculous! I don't have that much to pay outright :/

Have you even got your confirmation from the uni? As although I know I was in the ranking they STILL haven't confirmed my place...and they said they'd get sent out on the 17th. It's all so last minute


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

i ended up looking on studielink, which seemed to confirm it. I've still not received a letter though.

(Original post by choco12323)
As long as you can prove you are a resident in the EU you will being paying around 1,700 a year for tuition. Read more about it here http://www.rug.nl/prospectiveStudent...ps/tuitionFees

I've also read that it is possible to get a student loan for tuition fee's that you can pay back after graduating however in order to apply for these you have to:

-be under the age of 30 when you apply for loan tuition fees for the first time
-be enrolled as a full-time student for an accredited course at a funded or recognized institute of higher education or university. Take a course in the Netherlands that qualifies for an allowance or a grant.
-have a citizen service number (in Dutch: burgerservicenummer) in the Netherlands
-have a bank account, other than a savings account.

Find out more information here: http://duo.nl/international_visitors...ition_fees.asp

So basically it looks like we can't sort these things until we are living in Groningen as we have to register at their City Hall. But this should be fine as I got this information in an email "The GBA administration of Groningen has reserved a few special days to speed up the registration of international students in the GBA of Groningen. During the Introduction days you will be able to make an appointment for one of these days. After registration at City Hall and once your GBA address is confirmed, the tuition fee will be adjusted."

So basically the process for registering for EU tuition fees will be made easier and as soon as that's sorted all will be fine! Just make sure you have the documents outlined here with you http://www.rug.nl/prospectivestudent...rationTownHall

Hope this clears up a few things!

(Original post by choco12323)
This is the full message sent to everyone by University just incase you want some more reassurance:

Automated Messages from DUO/Studielink

Automated Messages
Recently you may have received messages from DUO/Studielink about registration at City Hall, GBA address, high tuition fee and uploading a passphoto for your student card. On this page we will clarify these messages some more and tell you what these messages mean for you.

NON-EU students: the high tuition fee is correct and you can transfer the amount directly to the university before departure or through the faculty together with your Living Expenses Deposit.

GBA address for EU students: According to Dutch Law and regulations students studying at a Dutch institution should live in The Netherlands (or neighbouring regions) and be registered in the Municipal Personal Records Database (GBA) to qualify for the EU tuition fee of 1771 Euro. As long as you have not registered in this database, you will be charged the high tuition fee and will receive messages about this. Please don’t worry, the only thing you have to do, is to meet this requirement upon arrival and go to the City Hall of Groningen with your new housing details. Please check the website for further details on documents you need to bring. The GBA administration of Groningen has reserved a few special days to speed up the registration of international students in the GBA of Groningen. During the Introduction days you will be able to make an appointment for one of these days. After registration at City Hall and once your GBA address is confirmed, the tuition fee will be adjusted.

Photo for student card: Please upload your passphoto in time. If your enrolment is completed, your student card can be processed.

So don't stress, all is fine (as long as you arrive in Gronigen intime for this introduction week, haha!)

i thought I'd be fine, too, but I received this e-mail:

"The statutory tuition fees in The Netherlands are € 1771 for next year. You are allowed to pay that if you fullfill the requirements you already stated and if we can verify that you do. That means that we need a proof of residency in Groningen from you. You can get that at the municipality. As you are requesting for a lottery study you have to finish your enrolment before a certain date to be sure that you can study here. One of the steps being is the actual payment of tuition fees. Currently we ask € 7500,- from you because we don't have a verified address in The Netherlands from you. That is something you should fix before the due date stated in the information about the passing of the lottery. That will be the midst of August I think, so if possible register here a.s.a.p. If not, you should pay the € 7500 first and ask for a refund later when you have proven that you live here. You have to prove that not later then September."

[boumavilla]

Just finished my GCSEs and about to begin my A-levels this year. I have wanted to move to the Netherlands for uni for a couple of years now and I've been reading this thread thinking, "oohh goddd!"

Groningen is on my list of potential unis so I'm wondering is there anything else I should know about moving there?
I have been researching what you have to do before moving there and I do have a bit of family that live there (in Delft).
Also I have been learning Dutch for over a year now.

One of many questions I have is, why is the draw enabling you to move to the Netherlands based on luck?

[Mufasaa]

Just got my letter from DUO saying I've not sent everything And I need to send it before August 15th

I know for a fact I sent EVERYTHING they asked for.

EDIT: After phoning around a bit I've got a deadline extension and such so I should be OK. Although now they're saying I need a Dutch language test, which if I'm honest I'll fail miserably.

[AmelieGold]

(Original post by Mufasaa)
Just got my letter from DUO saying I've not sent everything And I need to send it before August 15th

I know for a fact I sent EVERYTHING they asked for.

EDIT: After phoning around a bit I've got a deadline extension and such so I should be OK. Although now they're saying I need a Dutch language test, which if I'm honest I'll fail miserably.

I totally know about what you're saying. I'm already here in Groningen and I'm so pissed up with the staff attention regarding to paperwork, and basic info such as the books we will be using. THEY DON'T KNOW ANYTHING YET, and keep telling me that I will be informed the sooner the 28th, hello?

Moreover, today was kei week start, and honestly, you haven't missed much. They placed me in an only-dutch-speakers-please group, and no one cared about it, but I'm feeling so like an outsider ...

[Mufasaa]

(Original post by AmelieGold)
I totally know about what you're saying. I'm already here in Groningen and I'm so pissed up with the staff attention regarding to paperwork, and basic info such as the books we will be using. THEY DON'T KNOW ANYTHING YET, and keep telling me that I will be informed the sooner the 28th, hello?

Moreover, today was kei week start, and honestly, you haven't missed much. They placed me in an only-dutch-speakers-please group, and no one cared about it, but I'm feeling so like an outsider ...

Sounds like RUG. I'm being told different things by everyone about everything, it's really effing annoying. The Psychology student desk is only open in mornings too, closing just before I rang them earlier... I still haven't a clue what they want me to pay.

Hopefully you'll get moved to a better group in KEI week That kind of thing sounds like it'll ruin your week.

[Mufasaa]

After everything, I'm going.

[Mufasaa]

How is everybody finding it over here? Did anyone else do the ESN week stuff?

[TheRandomer]

Does anyone know if there are any apartments available near Zernike? I need somewhere to rent for 3 months O_o

[Mufasaa]

(Original post by TheRandomer)
Does anyone know if there are any apartments available near Zernike? I need somewhere to rent for 3 months O_o

There should be, try looking on http://www.housingoffice.nl/kind_of_..._student_house for it, it says on each page how far the housing is from Zernicke and the city centre. Generally though, just aim for the north of the city, from the centre northwards. Or just try Winschoterdiep in the south because we're a craic bunch.

[doctor92]

Guys how do we know the specific grade requirements for the IB? It just says HL bio and HL chem with SL maths and physics. That's not even possible to do in the IB, we can't do 3 sciences....
Could someone please help?

[boumavilla]

Ok, I'm very seriously considering taking Astronomy at Groningen Univeristy.
I have some questions to ask you guys though, I would be very pleased if someone could answer them for me, please!


One I have is, why are there no grade requirements for the courses in the Netherlands? I almost find it too good to be true!

Another is, does anyone that goes to Groningen live in a flat? Not a room, but a place of their own (perhaps with someone else)? Is it expensive?

How many lectures do you have per week?

What is the job situation there too? What are the chances of getting a job? What is a good job to do that pays enough?


Thank you so much!

[AmelieGold]

(Original post by boumavilla)
Ok, I'm very seriously considering taking Astronomy at Groningen Univeristy.
I have some questions to ask you guys though, I would be very pleased if someone could answer them for me, please!


One I have is, why are there no grade requirements for the courses in the Netherlands? I almost find it too good to be true!

Another is, does anyone that goes to Groningen live in a flat? Not a room, but a place of their own (perhaps with someone else)? Is it expensive?

How many lectures do you have per week?

What is the job situation there too? What are the chances of getting a job? What is a good job to do that pays enough?


Thank you so much!

Hi there,

I will try to sum up for you my Groningen experience.

I came here to study International and European Law LLB (first year entry) just after my high school education, and now I find myself dropping university, moving back to my country and applying to UK unis (Cambridge, KCL, LSE and Edinburgh).

1. They don't expect you to have astonishing grades, mainly because they can't fill up the courses (unless in Psychology, due to the Germans ). So expect a big bunch of people who doesn't really know/care about why they are studying the course, resulting to be a very demotivating environment. In my experience, it seems that all the programmes taught in English are like this. My course had also a Dutch stream, so I could compare both

2. I was living in my own studio flat. 35 sqm. shared toilets 670 euros. Also, a VERY VERY BAD DEAL. If you decide to come here, DO NOT rent something like this in your first year, WORSE if it is from a Dutch rental agency; they will trick you to death! Just so you know, Groningen' landlords are notorious in the whole country for tricking students (and specifically, internationals).

My advice is to choose a creepy room in an international student residence from the housing office and stick to that during the first year. They are neither homey or worth your money (shared room aprox. 350 eu), but you won't be tricked and you will enjoy any kind social life you could desire, something that is apparently banned for those freshers living on their own like me. Then, during the year you could team up with people of your study to rent a flat for your 2nd year. I think it's easier to catch a pleasant routine with people that have the same schedule than you.

3. I don't know for astronomy, but in my course the schedule was terrible! Somedays we would only have a 2 hour lecture at 9 am, while other days a 45 mins tutorial at 2 pm... So your body clock goes crazy.
The bright side is that on average, lecturers are OK and workload is a piece of cake if you do 2 hours of homework a day. Totally I had 16 contact hours a week, many of which were not compulsory.

4. Jobs? Whichever you want. Pay? high acceptable when accustomed to south European standarts. Chances? ZERO if you don't speak Dutch.


In general, I would say that Groningen is a dream city and University... for the Dutch. They have access to whatever you would dream of as a student. They even get 275 euros per month from the Government only because they are studying. Being an international here narrows down a lot your university life, you can't fully enjoy all the societies, talks, conferences... and you can't join their 2 sororities (which would be so fun, I think). You only mix with internationals and don't get the real "Dutch" taste.

I hope this will help If I can help you further, just ask me!

[boumavilla]

(Original post by AmelieGold)
Hi there,

I will try to sum up for you my Groningen experience.

I came here to study International and European Law LLB (first year entry) just after my high school education, and now I find myself dropping university, moving back to my country and applying to UK unis (Cambridge, KCL, LSE and Edinburgh).

1. They don't expect you to have astonishing grades, mainly because they can't fill up the courses (unless in Psychology, due to the Germans ). So expect a big bunch of people who doesn't really know/care about why they are studying the course, resulting to be a very demotivating environment. In my experience, it seems that all the programmes taught in English are like this. My course had also a Dutch stream, so I could compare both

First of all, THANK YOU SO MUCH for answering me!
The demotivating environment doesn't sound so promising, I was glad to escape that after starting my A-levels!
If these people don't have an interest or know their subject, then why is Groningen such a good university on the rankings? They're 89th in the World, which is impressive as it's above some top UK universities!

(Original post by AmelieGold)
2. I was living in my own studio flat. 35 sqm. shared toilets 670 euros. Also, a VERY VERY BAD DEAL. If you decide to come here, DO NOT rent something like this in your first year, WORSE if it is from a Dutch rental agency; they will trick you to death! Just so you know, Groningen' landlords are notorious in the whole country for tricking students (and specifically, internationals).

My advice is to choose a creepy room in an international student residence from the housing office and stick to that during the first year. They are neither homey or worth your money (shared room aprox. 350 eu), but you won't be tricked and you will enjoy any kind social life you could desire, something that is apparently banned for those freshers living on their own like me. Then, during the year you could team up with people of your study to rent a flat for your 2nd year. I think it's easier to catch a pleasant routine with people that have the same schedule than you.

In what way do Groningen landlords try to trick students? The student housing was something I didn't want to turn to aswell considering I could be placed with some absolute ********, even though student life in Groningen could be amazing. I am intending to go with my best friend too, could this change our situation at all?

(Original post by AmelieGold)
3. I don't know for astronomy, but in my course the schedule was terrible! Somedays we would only have a 2 hour lecture at 9 am, while other days a 45 mins tutorial at 2 pm... So your body clock goes crazy.
The bright side is that on average, lecturers are OK and workload is a piece of cake if you do 2 hours of homework a day. Totally I had 16 contact hours a week, many of which were not compulsory.

The lectures doesn't sound so bad, just as long as I get my sleep! Which is a main reason why I don't want to live in a student house...

(Original post by AmelieGold)
4. Jobs? Whichever you want. Pay? high acceptable when accustomed to south European standarts. Chances? ZERO if you don't speak Dutch.

Job market sounds OK then. I can speak good beginner's Dutch so far, I am hoping to get much better between now and then.

(Original post by AmelieGold)
In general, I would say that Groningen is a dream city and University... for the Dutch. They have access to whatever you would dream of as a student. They even get 275 euros per month from the Government only because they are studying. Being an international here narrows down a lot your university life, you can't fully enjoy all the societies, talks, conferences... and you can't join their 2 sororities (which would be so fun, I think). You only mix with internationals and don't get the real "Dutch" taste.

I hope this will help If I can help you further, just ask me!

Your excellent answer has been very helpful thank you, it has given me much food for thought...
Clearly it will never be easy to move there.
Although I suppose by improving my Dutch as much as I can, it could help me? How well did you learn Dutch?

[Masterions]

Anyone here studying international relations that would be so kind as to express their opinion like @AmelieGold did? I'd be grateful.

Cheers

[JGSiegers]

I agree with AmelieGold, that finding accommodation in Groningen (at least in the private sector) is really hard and can be very expensive. Together with a friend I am trying to solve this problem (at least in Groningen) for international students by placing them in vacant houses. We are able to minimalize the costs, as well for ourselves as for the students. This way we are able to provide cheaper and good accommodation for international students in Groningen. You may want to check studentshorstay.com, for more information.

[austekelli]

hi guys ! can anyone tell me how do you pay the tuition fee? I mean, do you have to pay the full fee right away or is there a possibility to pay it monthly or any other way? thanks!