About FINEB
Fundashon Finansiamentu di Estudio di Bonaire (FINEB) provided student loans in the years 2004 to 2010. This loan was also known as the FINEB loan in popular parlance.
The FINEB loan was paid out to students from Bonaire who went to study on Bonaire, Curaçao, Aruba or in the Netherlands.
RCN-Studiefinanciering
Due to the constitutional transition on October 10th, 2010, Bonaire became part of the Netherlands as a Public Entity. This means that FINEB’s task as a provider of student grants was transferred to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). The Minister of Education, Culture and Science subsequently assigned this executive task to RCN-Studiefinanciering.
RCN-Studiefinanciering implements various education laws and regulations on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in the Caribbean Netherlands. For example, RCN-Studiefinanciering granted student grants in the period from October 2010 to August 2011 based on the “old” Wsf BES. This law was in fact a continuation of the National study allowance scheme and the FINEB scheme.
New legislation
As of August 1st, 2011, the new Wsf BES came into effect. This act regulates Student Grants BES and the Start-up Allowance. RCN-Studiefinanciering also carries out these tasks.
The collection of the FINEB loans is also a task of RCN-Studiefinanciering (Article 28 of the Student Finance Act BES as it applied on October 10th, 2010 and Article 9.2 of the Student Finance Act BES as it applied on August 1st, 2011). On March 12th, 2013, the State of the Netherlands, the Public Entity Bonaire and the foundation Fundashon Finansiamentu di Estudio di Bonaire (FINEB) signed an agreement on the collection of the FINEB loans.
Collection of loans
The FINEB loans that have been granted will be collected by RCN-Studiefinanciering from October 2013. In addition, the loans granted in the 2010-2011 academic year are also collected by RCN-Studiefinanciering.
Debtors who received a FINEB loan before October 10th, 2010 and received a student loan from RCN-Studiefinanciering in the academic year 2010-2011, must repay both loans. These amounts are collected as one loan.
Proceeds for Bonaire
The proceeds (less the execution costs) of the collection of the FINEB loans - including the interest proceeds - will be made available by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science to the Public Entity Bonaire and will benefit education on Bonaire.