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Repayment rules

Not everybody is subject to the same rules when paying back a student loan. There are 4 different sets of repayment rules:

SF35
  • You always pay by direct debit.
  • Your ability to pay is taken into account as standard.
  • Your partner’s income always counts when calculating your ability to pay.
  • Your repayment period lasts up to 35 years.
  • You don’t need to pay back anything if your capacity to pay is less than €5 per month.
  • You never have to pay more than 4 per cent of your income above the ability threshold. If you are single without children, this threshold is 100 per cent of the national minimum wage. In all other cases it is 143 per cent.
  • From the start of your preliminary phase, the interest rate is fixed for 5 years at a time.
  • The interest rate equals the average yield of the 5 year bonds from October up to and including September. The percentage may differ from the SF15-oud and SF15 repayment rules. Under the SF15-oud and SF15 repayment rules, the interest rate equals the average yield in the month of September alone.
SF15
  • You always pay by direct debit.
  • Your ability to pay is taken into account as standard.
  • Your partner’s income always counts when calculating your ability to pay.
  • Your repayment period lasts up to 15 years.
  • You never have to pay more than 12 per cent of your income above the ability threshold. If you are single without children, this threshold is 84 per cent of the national minimum wage. In all other cases it is 120 per cent.
  • From the start of your preliminary phase, the interest rate is fixed for 5 years at a time.
  • The interest rate equals the average yield of the 5 year bonds in September. The percentage may differ from the SF35 repayment rules. Under the SF35 repayment rules, the interest rate equals the average yield of the 5 year bonds from October up to and including September.
SF15-old
  • You can choose to pay by direct debit.
  • If you pay by direct debit, you receive a € 0.77 discount on your monthly instalment. However, if a direct debit fails, there is no discount for this month.
  • You can apply for a reduction of your monthly instalment yourself. You decide whether or not to include your partner’s income when calculating your payments.
  • Your repayment period lasts 15 years. But if your partner’s income is disregarded, you are due to keep making payments until your debt is fully paid. This means the repayment period is extended.
  • Your income is divided into bands. In each band you pay a different percentage of your income, rising as your earnings increase.
  • From the start of your preliminary phase, the interest rate is fixed for 5 years at a time.
  • Like the SF15 rules, the interest rate equals the average yield of the 5 year bonds in September. The percentage may differ from the SF35 repayment rules. Under the SF35 repayment rules, the interest rate equals the average yield of the 5 year bonds from October up to and including September.
SF15-lllc
  • You always pay by direct debit.
  • Your ability to pay is taken into account as standard.
  • Your partner’s income always counts when calculating your ability to pay.
  • Your repayment period lasts up to 15 years.
  • You never have to pay more than 12 per cent of your income above the ability threshold. If you are single without children, this threshold is 84 per cent of the national minimum wage. In all other cases it is 120 per cent.
  • On 1 January after your lifelong learning credit stops, the repayment phase begins. From then onwards the interest rate is fixed for 5 years at a time.
  • The interest rate equals the average yield of the 5 year bonds from October up to and including September. The percentage may differ from the SF15-oud and SF15 repayment rules. Under the SF15-oud and SF15 repayment rules, the interest rate equals the average yield in the month of September alone.

Which rules apply to you?

In Mijn DUO, under 'Mijn schulden', you can find which repayment rules apply to you.

The rules that apply to you depend on your education and when you first received student financing. Roughly, this applies:

The SF 35 rules apply if you

  • receive student financing for the first time in or after the 2023-2024 academic year, or
  • received student financing for the first time for a higher professional education or university programme in or after the 2015-2016 academic year, or
  • receive student finance for an MBO programme before and after August 1, 2023 without interruption. Before starting repayments, you can switch to SF15.

In other cases, you are usually subject to one of the other rules for which the repayment period is 15 years.

Switching repayment rules

Sometimes you may switch repayment rules. You will receive information about this in February or March of the calendar year following your last student grant payment. A few months before your repayment phase starts, you will receive a letter about requesting the switch. If you have received this letter and you do want to switch, you can arrange this in Mijn DUO. Do this before the start of your repayment period. After that, switching is no longer possible.

If you switch, the rules you chose will take effect as soon as the repayment period starts. From then on, the interest rate applies which was valid for the chosen repayment rules in the year your preliminary phase started. On the Interest page you will find a list of interest rates in recent years.

You can use the calculation tool (link in Dutch) to see what switching means for the repayment of your debt.

Consequences for mortgage

When buying a house, your student debt is taken into account in the calculation of your maximum mortgage amount.

If you choose to repay your student debt in 35 years, you can often get a higher mortgage than if you repay your student debt in 15 years. This is because your monthly expenses are lower when repaying in 35 years. However, your student debt will last longer, unless you make additional repayments. Since the debt is subject to interest as long as it exists, the total interest for a repayment period of 35 years can be higher than in 15 years.

No access to Mijn DUO

If you have no access to Mijn DUO, use the Aanvraag overstap terugbetalingsregels form instead.

Compare repayment rules

Payment method

* In addition to the lifelong learning credit, do you also have a debt under the rules from SF15-old? Only for the latter you will receive the € 0.77 discount if you pay by direct debit.
SF35 You always pay by direct debit.
SF15 You always pay by direct debit.
SF15-old You can opt to pay by direct debit. If you do so, you receive a € 0.77 discount on your monthly instalment. However, if a direct debit fails, there is no discount for this month.
SF15-lllc You always pay by direct debit. *

Reducing your monthly instalment

SF35 Your ability to pay is taken into account as standard.
SF15 Your ability to pay is taken into account as standard.
SF15-old You can apply for a reduction of your monthly repayments yourself.
SF15-lllc Your ability to pay is taken into account as standard.

Partner’s income

* In addition to the lifelong learning credit, do you also have a debt that is subject to rules from SF15-old? In that case, you can decide for yourself whether or not to include your partner’s income for this debt.
SF35 Your partner’s income always counts when calculating your ability to pay.
SF15 Your partner’s income always counts when calculating your ability to pay.
SF15-old You decide whether or not to include your partner’s income when calculating your payments.
SF15-lllc Your partner’s income always counts when calculating your ability to pay.*

Duration

SF35 Your repayment period lasts up to 35 years and starts 2 years after your eligibility for student finance ends.
SF15 Your repayment period lasts up to 15 years and starts 2 years after your eligibility for student finance ends.
SF15-old Your repayment period lasts 15 years and starts 2 years after your eligibility for student finance ends. But if your partner’s income is disregarded, you are due to keep making payments until your debt is fully paid. This means the repayment period is extended.
SF15-lllc Your repayment period lasts up to 15 years and starts the year after your eligibility for student finance ends.

Calculation of ability to pay

Go to Calculation of your monthly instalments to read how your repayment rules affect your ability to pay.

Interest

From the start of your preliminary phase, the interest rate is fixed for 5 years at a time. The interest rate is calculated as follows:

SF35 The interest rate equals the average yield of the 5-year bonds from October up to and including September.
SF15 The interest rate equals the average yield of the 5-year bonds in September.
SF15-old The interest rate equals the average yield of the 5-year bonds in September.
SF15-lllc The interest rate equals the average yield of the 5-year bonds from October up to and including September.
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