Confirmation that the basic study financing regulation being reintroduced in the Netherlands next year will also apply to students from the Dutch Caribbean (see Tuesday paper) was most welcome. Sending youngsters abroad to further their education is hardly cheap these days.
It usually costs not only government, but also parents making expected contributions a considerable amount of money. Loans help, but create financial burdens afterwards that particularly persons just entering the labour market often find difficult to carry.
Recipients will now get a basic monthly scholarship allowance that does not have to be repaid if the study is successfully completed within 10 years. A distinction is thereby made between those residing at home or not.
Of course, it would be good if more high school graduates were able to continue their studies on-island, something University of St. Martin (USM), National Institute for Professional Advancement (NIPA) and others constantly strive for. However, the country’s small-scale nature realistically makes offering every imaginable course here practically a mission impossible.
And limiting choices to what is available in St. Maarten unless from a well-off family who can afford different options would go against promoting equal opportunity. Giving priority to certain professions needed on the island is one thing, hampering “the best and brightest” coming out of secondary education in developing to their full potential quite another.
Besides, leaving the comfort and safety of the family home to basically stand on one’s own two feet elsewhere in the pursuit of knowledge, while at times tough, provides new and valuable experiences that may prove very rewarding in the immediate future. It allows people to broaden their horizon.
So yes, brain-drain is a problem, as some students never return, but that also has to do with the situation they would find themselves in. A high cost-of-living on the one hand and relatively low salary on the other hand tend to make that a challenging prospect, so reducing study debts would certainly seem like a step in the right direction.
