Taking a Master’s programme
Do you have a Bachelor’s degree from university or higher vocational education (HBO) and do you want to continue your studies? A Master’s programme is the logical next step. Whether you receive student finance for this depends on your Bachelor’s programme and which Master’s you want to take.
Extension of your student finance?
When you study at university or higher vocational education (HBO), you are usually entitled to 7 years of student finance. If you take a Master’s programme, this period can sometimes be extended. In other words, you may receive student finance for a longer period. This depends on how long your Master’s programme is officially supposed to last.
Official programme duration
The official duration of your Master’s programme may be shorter than the duration stated by the institution itself.
Programme duration
You can look up the official duration of a programme in RIO (link in Dutch), the national register for educational institutions. This information can be found on the screen containing the details of the programme in question. The ‘study load’ gives the number of credits for the Master’s degree: 60 credits is a 1-year programme, 120 credits is 2 years and so on.
Basis
Below the study load, you will also find the basis for the study load. If this says ‘ministerieel’ (ministerial), then the study load given is the official duration of the programme. In this case, check the table to see if you are entitled to additional student finance. If the basis for the study load is given as ‘instelling’ (institution), you will not receive additional student finance for this Master’s programme.
A study programme abroad
Do you want to take a study programme abroad? In this case, we assess your entitlement based on the official programme duration for the comparable programme in the Netherlands.
Eligible for how long?
The tables below shows how many years of student finance you will receive for a Bachelor’s programme followed by a Master’s programme. Go to Mijn DUO to see how many months you have left.
| Basic and supplementary grant | Student travel product | Interest-bearing loan and tuition fees loan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| HBO Bachelor + 1 year HBO Master | 5 years | 6 years | 8 years |
| HBO Bachelor + 1,5 year HBO Master | 5 years and 6 months | 6 years and 6 months | 8 years and 6 months |
| HBO Bachelor + 2 year HBO Master | 6 years | 7 years | 9 years |
| HBO Bachelor + 2,5 year HBO Master | 6 years and 6 months | 7 years and 6 months | 9 years and 6 months |
| HBO Bachelor + 3 year HBO Master | 7 years | 8 years | 10 years |
| HBO Bachelor + 4 year HBO Master | 8 years | 9 years | 10 years |
| HBO Bachelor + 1 year university Master | 4 years | 5 years | 7 years |
| HBO Bachelor + 2 year university Master | 5 years | 6 years | 8 years |
| Basic and supplementary grant | Student travel product | Interest-bearing loan and tuition fees loan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| University Bachelor + 1 year university Master | 4 years | 5 years | 7 years |
| University Bachelor + 1,5 year university Master | 4 years and 6 months | 5 years and 6 months | 7 years and 6 months |
| University Bachelor + 2 year university Master | 5 years | 6 years | 8 years |
| University Bachelor + 3 year university Master | 6 years | 7 years | 9 years |
| University Bachelor + 4 year university Master | 7 years | 8 years | 10 years |
| University Bachelor + 1 year HBO Master | 5 years | 6 years | 8 years |
| University Bachelor + 2 year HBO Master | 6 years | 7 years | 9 years |
Additional travel months due to Covid restrictions
Have you been notified that you will be given additional travel months due to Covid restrictions? If so, these months will be added to the official duration stated here.
Submit update
Enter your details in the programme update assistant. It will only take a minute to find out what arrangements you need to make.
Programme update assistantProgramme update assistant
Pre-Master
You will not always receive student finance for a pre-Master's programme or a preparatory year. You will only get student finance if you are enrolled as a Bachelor student (full time or dual). Are you, during your pre-Master, enrolled for a university Bachelor linked to a multi-year Master's programme? If so, your extra years of student finance, if any, will be awarded immediately.
Graduate Master’s
You will not receive additional student finance for a graduate Master’s degree (in Dutch: postinitiële master or PIM). Nor does a graduate Master’s degree lead to conversion of your grant into a gift.
Have you already obtained a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree and received at least 1 month of student finance for university or higher vocational education (HBO)? Then you are still entitled to use up any remaining months of student finance. Please note that the graduate Master’s must be recognized by the Accreditation Organization of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) Link opent externe pagina . Check with your institution to see if this is the case.