For those that are considering studying in the Netherlands, either for a year, a semester, or the summer, you will eventually run into the great tuition debate.

You see, there are two categories of international students: those that are European Union citizens and those that are not. The difference between the two in terms of cost, is significant. A non EU student at the U of Amsterdam today pays as much as 9,000 euros per year. A walk in the park when you compare it to US university costs, but a great deal of money to anyone coming from Asia, Africa, and South America. When you compare that to the 1,500 euros per year that EU students pay, it raises big questions about how and why this policy came to be.

Some student groups and political parties here in the Netherlands are actually trying to make Universities change this policy, and generate some attention to this inequality.

Myself I can remember many friends from Ghana, Tanzania, and Kenya, struggling to pay tuition every year. They wanted to work and make money to help pay for their studies, but tight working restrictions for non EU students made this impossible. Many of them actually did NOT get their degree, as they ran out of money even after completing their course work.

Obviously one strategy that many students adopt is to find a way to get EU citizenship. 27 nations means somehow somewhere, you might have a case for getting your EU citizenship. Then again if 9,000 a semester seems like peanuts to you, well.. you know where you can come study.