Open letter to minister Van Engelshoven

The corona crisis brings a lot of uncertainty for everyone. And at the same time, social initiative to help others is emerging all over the country. An awful lot of young people are also participating in this. They get groceries for the elderly, babysit the children of caregivers or fetch medicine for their neighbours. As minister for higher education and we as youth organisations can be proud that many young people are standing up for these people.

At the same time, many young people are not in a strong financial position in this crisis. They most often work on a 0-hour basis, as temporary workers. As these are the contracts that companies can terminate most easily, many young people are currently losing income. Many internships are also being postponed.

Students are not entitled to welfare and often not to WW. At the same time, students' rent and fixed expenses continue. They also still pay college or tuition fees while physical classes and lectures, and thus interaction with teachers and fellow students, no longer take place. Students can use student loans, but that amounts to borrowing money; creating additional student debt. We do not think that is the solution.

We therefore propose a number of additional measures that do justice to students' specific concerns.

• Allow young people to defer payment of college or tuition fees;
• Explicitly inform young people who lose their jobs or internships of their rights. They often do not know them;
• Engage with employer & employee organisations to find additional solutions for young people at risk of losing their jobs or internships;
• After the corona crisis, look at the extra debt incurred and how to offset it

We trust you will also do all you can to help students during these special times.

Sincerely,

Hielke Onnink (CDJA), Annabel Broer (Young Democrats), Siewerd de Jong (PerspectieF), Luna Koops (Young Socialists), Wouter Ubbink (DWARS)