DUO offers a helping hand on Bonaire
The “Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs” (The Education Executive Agency, hereafter to be mentioned as DUO) will visit Bonaire from the 29th of November to the 10th of December. DUO will then open a temporary service office to meet prospective students and former students. In addition, DUO will organize information meetings for prospective students and offers tailor-made assistance to people with payment problems.
Informative sessions
The information sessions are aimed at students (and their parents) who want to study in the Netherlands and want to know more about student finance. The meetings will be held on the 29th of November and the 1st of December at 7:00 PM. You can still register for the meeting via duo.nl/visitantillen.
Temporary service office
During the visit to Bonaire, a temporary service office will be opened in the building of the “Belastingsdienst” (Tax office) at Kaya L.D. Gerharts 12. People can stop by with all their questions about Dutch student finance and the repayment of their student debt. It is not necessary to make an appointment to visit a service office. Repayers must bring proof of identity and, if possible, also an overview of their income. At the service offices, meetings are also held by invitation with people with payment arrears in order to come to a tailor-made payment arrangement.
Pay back according to spending capacity
The visit of DUO Bonaire is a follow-up to a successful visit to Aruba and Curacao in November. Monique Hoogerwerf is coordinator of the Caribbean region at DUO and sees to that many people with payment problems have been helped in recent weeks. Hoogerwerf: 'What many people don't know is that DUO can take someone's income into account when calculating the monthly amount. You will then pay back according to 'spending capacity'.' A former student must apply for the reduction of the monthly amount himself. Hoogerwerf: 'Many people pay a lower monthly amount after reporting their income or sometimes even don't have to pay anything at all. We see great relief among many former students that a solution has been found for their payment arrears. So I would also like to say to repayers back on Bonaire: Get in touch with us. We can help you!’
DUO implements laws and regulations for the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science(Dutch: Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap OCW) in the field of funding educational institutions, the provision of student financing and school costs allowance, the collection of student debts, and the management and exchange of data linked to the education number.