Residents of Saint Martin, Saba and Sint Eustatius are affected by the effects of hurricane Irma. The Education Executive Agency (Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs /DUO) understands that for ex-students on these islands it may be difficult now to pay their monthly instalments. Therefore, DUO offers a relief plan for the upcoming period.
This plan applies to all ex-students with a student loan, of whom DUO knows that they are residents of Saint Martin, Saba or Sint Eustatius. DUO automatically executes this plan, ex-students do not have to sign up.
What is the plan?
Until December 2018:
– ex-students on Saint Martin, Saba and Sint Eustatius do not have to pay off any instalments of their student debt;
– any overdue instalments will not be collected by the bailiff;
– DUO will not calculate interest on the student debt;
– the end date of the repayment phase remains the same.
All ex-students who are paying back their student loans receive a personal message from DUO about this plan by mail and/or email. In 2017 and 2018 ex-students will not receive payment requests from DUO. In October 2018 they will receive a letter about resuming the payments in 2019.
It is important that DUO disposes of the most recent contact information. Therefore, ex-students should make sure DUO can reach them by mail, e-mail or via an authorized representative. Changes in contact information can be made via antillen@duo.nl.
DUO is the abbreviation of Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs (Education Executive Agency). It is a Dutch Governmental organization and part of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. DUO is responsible for the execution of several laws, acts and regulations in the educational domain, such as the payments of study grants and loans to students, the collection of study debts, the financial support of parents with children in secondary school, the funding of schools in primary, secondary, vocational and higher education, the organization of schoolexams and naturalization exams, and information management for specific purposes.