Indication type of tuition fees higher education

Education Executive Agency

The algorithm indicates the type of tuition fees a student has to pay to an educational institution to attend a funded higher education course. This can be statutory tuition fees or institutional tuition fees. The government sets the statutory tuition fee and the educational institution sets the institutional tuition fee, which is often higher.

Last change on 22nd of May 2025, at 13:20 (CET) | Publication Standard 1.0

• Publication category: Other algorithms
• Impact assessment: IAMA
• Status: In use

General information

Theme

Education and Science

Begin date

2014-01

Contact information

[e-mail]

Link to publication website

https://duo.nl/zakelijk/hoger-onderwijs/studentenadministratie/soort-collegegeld.jsp

Responsible use

Goal and impact

A student enrolling in a funded higher education programme must pay tuition fees to the educational institution. This can be statutory tuition fees or institutional tuition fees. Which type of tuition fee the student has to pay depends on two things. First, whether the student already has a degree from a programme of the same level, and second, what nationality the student is. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science determines the level of statutory tuition fees and the educational institution determines the level of institutional tuition fees. But the educational institution does not always know whether the student has to pay the statutory tuition fee or the institutional tuition fee.

The purpose of the algorithm, since DUO has all the necessary data at its disposal, is to provide an automated, efficient and reliable indication, as a service, to an educational institution or a student of the type of tuition fees the student has to pay. DUO only gives an indication, as ultimately the educational institution itself can decide what tuition fees the student should pay.

Considerations

To determine the correct type of tuition fee, DUO needs data on previously obtained higher education diplomas and the student's nationality. DUO retrieves the diploma data from its Register of Educational Participants and nationality data from the Key Register of Persons. This allows DUO to quickly provide the educational institution and/or the student with reliable information on what tuition fees the student has to pay.

The alternative is that the educational institution itself has to request this data from the student, from DUO and from the Basic Registration of Persons. This takes a lot of time. There is also the chance that the data are not complete to make the right decision, and there is the danger that the same decision will not always be made for every student. This algorithm is an administrative burden reduction for educational institutions. Incidentally, the indication given by DUO is not a decision. The educational institution itself decides what tuition fees the student has to pay, and may deviate from DUO's indication.

Human intervention

The algorithm is a rule-based decision tree and provides an automated indication from DUO to the educational institution or to the student. The educational institution ultimately decides what tuition fees the student should pay, and may deviate from DUO's indication. DUO also sends along with the indication information about the data used by DUO in determining the indication of the type of tuition fees. This allows the educational institution and the student to see what data DUO has used and to check whether the data are correct. DUO does not make a decision, so it is not possible to lodge an objection against this indication with DUO. The final responsibility for the type of tuition fees lies with the educational institution.

Risk management

The algorithm is checked on a regular basis using various types of tests to ensure that it works correctly. There is a chance that the Basic Registration of Persons does not contain all the information DUO needs. In that case, DUO would issue an indication based on incomplete information. If the student can show that the information in the Personal Records Database is incomplete, the educational institution can deviate from DUO's indication.

Legal basis

The Higher Education and Scientific Research Act (WHW) states when a student must pay statutory or institutional tuition fees, and what exceptions there are. This can be found in sections 7.43, 7.44, 7.45, 7.45a, 7.45b and 7.46, among others. Article 7.45a states exactly what conditions a student must meet to pay statutory tuition fees. The two most important ones are that the student has not previously obtained a degree for a programme of the same level, and that the student has the correct nationality according to the Student Finance Act 2000 (WSF 2000). These conditions, and any exceptions to them, are detailed in Sections 2.3 and 2.3a of the HRA 2008 Implementation Decree (UWHW 2008) and Section 3 of the Student Finance Decree 2000 (BSF 2000). Information on the data exchange required for DUO's indication can be found in Section 7.31a to f of the HRA and Section 5 (1) (g) of the Register of Educational Participants Act (WRO) joins Sections 27 and 28 of the Register of Educational Participants Decree (BRO).

Links to legal bases

• Wet hoger onderwijs en wetenschappelijk onderzoek (WHW) : https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0005682/2025-01-01
• Uitvoeringsbesluit WHW 2008 (UWHW 2008): https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0006152/2025-01-01
• Wet studiefinanciering 2000 (WSF 2000): https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0011453/2025-01-01
• Besluit Studiefinanciering 2000 (BSF 2000): https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0011545/2025-01-01
• Wet register onderwijsdeelnemers (WRO): https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0042012/2024-01-01
• Besluit register onderwijsdeelnemers (BRO): https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0042639/2025-01-01

Elaboration on impact assessments

Both an IAMA and a pre-scan DPIA were conducted for the algorithm. The outcome of the IAMA was that the deployment of the algorithm strikes a reasonable balance between the objectives of the algorithm and the fundamental rights of a citizen potentially affected by the algorithm's deployment. The outcome of the pre-scan has been that a DPIA is not required. However, the processing and the pre-scan will be included in the AVG processing register.

Impact assessment

Impact Assessment Mensenrechten en Algoritmes (IAMA)

Operations

Data

DUO makes the indication about the type of tuition fees using the student's personal number and enrolment data (name of programme and educational institution). The algorithm itself uses enrolment data from the application, enrolment and result data from the Register of Educational Participants, and data on the student's nationality and/or residence status in the Netherlands. These data come from the Basic Registration of Persons or from the educational institution.

Links to data sources

Programma van Eisen elektronische gegevensuitwisseling tussen HO-instellingen en DUO (met name: paragraaf 13.1.9, de grondslaggegevens): https://duo.nl/zakelijk/images/programma-van-eisen-hoger-onderwijs.pdf

Technical design

The algorithm gathers from the Register of Educational Participants information on previous enrolments and previously obtained diplomas in higher education and determines on that basis whether the student is eligible for statutory tuition fees for the desired enrolment.

The algorithm obtains data on nationality and/or residence permit from the BRP (if the BRP has no data, these data come from the educational institution) and determines on this basis whether the student meets the nationality requirement.

Finally, based on these two outcomes, the algorithm determines the final indication type of tuition fees. The final indication is 'statutory' if the student is eligible for statutory tuition fees based on previous qualifications and if the student meets the nationality condition. In all other cases, the final indication is 'institutional tuition fees'.