You get into a Dutch university without a scholarship, and you’re looking at €8,000 to €25,000 a year in tuition alone if you’re from outside the EU. Get a scholarship like the Holland Scholarship or an Erasmus Mundus grant, and that number can drop to zero, sometimes with a monthly stipend on top. The trick isn’t luck, it’s knowing which of the roughly dozen major scholarship programs actually fits your passport, your degree level, and your field, then applying early enough to matter.
I’ve talked to enough students who missed out on funding for one dumb reason, applying to the scholarship after they’d already missed the university’s own deadline, to know that the process trips people up more than the competition does. So let’s go through what’s actually available, what it pays for, and how you apply without shooting yourself in the foot.
What scholarships actually exist for studying in the Netherlands
The Netherlands doesn’t have one giant national scholarship pot like some countries do. Instead, funding comes from a patchwork of sources: the Dutch government, individual universities, the EU, and sometimes your own home country’s government. Here’s what actually shows up when non-EU students go looking.
- Holland Scholarship — a one-time €5,000 grant for non-EEA students starting a bachelor’s or master’s at a participating Dutch research university or university of applied sciences. It’s the most widely available option, backed by the Dutch Ministry of Education, but it only covers the first year, and you apply directly through the university you’re admitted to.
- Orange Tulip Scholarship (OTS) — run country by country through Nuffic Neso offices in places like Indonesia, Vietnam, China, India, and Russia. Amounts and coverage vary a lot depending on your country; some cover full tuition, others a partial amount, and the application usually happens through the local Neso office rather than the university itself.
- Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees — an EU-funded program, not Netherlands-specific, but plenty of Dutch universities co-run these joint master’s programs. It covers full tuition, a travel allowance based on how far you’re traveling, and a living allowance of around €1,400 a month. Competition is brutal because it’s open globally, but the payout is the best on this list.
- University-specific scholarships — things like Leiden University Excellence Scholarship (LExS), the Amsterdam Merit Scholarship, Utrecht Excellence Scholarships, and the Eric Bleumink Fund at the University of Groningen. These usually target master’s or PhD-track students with strong academic records and cover anywhere from partial tuition to full tuition plus living costs.
- Government-to-government deals — StuNed, for example, is a Dutch government scholarship specifically for Indonesian professionals, funded through the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and administered by Nuffic Neso Indonesia. If your country has a bilateral education agreement with the Netherlands, check for something similar.
None of these are mutually exclusive with each other in theory, but in practice you usually end up committing to whichever one fits your program and passport best, because the application timelines and required documents differ enough that juggling three at once gets messy fast.
How much do these scholarships actually cover
This is where people get their hopes up and then get disappointed, so let’s be blunt about the numbers. A “full scholarship” almost never means someone hands you a blank check and a bike.
The Holland Scholarship gives €5,000 once, at the start of your program. If your master’s costs €15,000 a year in tuition, that scholarship knocks off a third of year one and nothing more. It’s meant to soften the blow of upfront costs, not replace your entire budget.
Erasmus Mundus scholarships are the closest thing to “full ride” you’ll find. Tuition is covered completely, plus roughly €1,400 monthly for living costs (the exact figure has shifted slightly across program cycles, so always check the specific consortium’s grant agreement), plus a travel allowance calculated by distance band, from a few hundred euros for someone traveling within Europe to over €4,000 for students coming from far outside it.
University-run programs sit somewhere in between. Leiden’s LExS typically ranges from partial tuition waivers to full tuition plus a living stipend, but it’s awarded to a small number of students per faculty, often fewer than 15 across an entire program cycle. The Eric Bleumink Fund at Groningen covers tuition, a monthly allowance, and travel, but it’s aimed specifically at students from a defined list of low- and middle-income countries, so check that list before you get excited.
Here’s a rough side-by-side so you’re not guessing:
| Scholarship | Typical coverage | Who applies |
|---|---|---|
| Holland Scholarship | €5,000, one-time, first year only | Non-EEA bachelor’s/master’s students, via the university |
| Erasmus Mundus | Full tuition + ~€1,400/month + travel allowance | Applicants to joint EU master’s programs, globally |
| Orange Tulip Scholarship | Partial to full tuition, varies by country | Students from specific countries, via Nuffic Neso offices |
| Leiden Excellence Scholarship | Partial tuition to full tuition + stipend | Non-EEA master’s students admitted to Leiden |
| Eric Bleumink Fund | Tuition + monthly allowance + travel | Students from a defined list of developing countries, master’s/PhD |
Notice the pattern: the bigger the payout, the smaller and more specific the applicant pool. Erasmus Mundus pays the most but wants a strong academic profile and often relevant work or research experience. The Holland Scholarship pays less but has a far wider net.
How do you actually apply for a Dutch scholarship
You apply for the university program first, then the scholarship, and in most cases those two applications happen at the same time through the same portal. That’s the part people miss. You can’t get a Holland Scholarship without first being admitted, or at least conditionally admitted, to a participating program.
Here’s the sequence that actually works, based on how universities like Utrecht, Groningen, and VU Amsterdam structure it:
- Pick your program before your scholarship. Search for the degree and university first. Then check that program’s page for which scholarships it participates in, because not every faculty at every Dutch university offers the Holland Scholarship or a university-specific one.
- Check the deadline gap. Non-EEA application deadlines for Dutch master’s programs typically fall between January and April for a September start, often a month or two earlier than the EU/EEA deadline. Scholarship deadlines are frequently tied to, or even earlier than, this admission deadline, so missing the general deadline by even a week can knock you out of scholarship contention entirely.
- Prepare your language proof early. Most programs want IELTS Academic at 6.5 overall or TOEFL iBT around 80-90, and test slots fill up, especially in big cities during peak application season (November through February). Book your test at least six weeks before you need the score.
- Write a motivation letter that’s actually specific. Admissions committees reading hundreds of these can tell within two sentences whether you’ve researched the specific research group, professor, or course structure, or whether you copy-pasted a generic “I am passionate about the Netherlands” essay. Name a specific course, a specific faculty member’s research, or a specific reason this program over a competitor’s.
- Submit both applications through the right portal. Some universities use Studielink for the general application and a separate scholarship form; others fold it into one system. Read the program’s admission page line by line rather than assuming it works like the last university you researched.
For Erasmus Mundus specifically, the process is different because you’re applying to a consortium, not a single university. Applications open around October and close between January and mid-February depending on the specific joint program, and you rank your preferred participating universities within that consortium rather than choosing just one.
What mistakes actually cost people their scholarship
I’ve seen the same handful of errors repeated across forums and student groups, and they’re almost always avoidable.
The biggest one is applying to the scholarship as if it’s separate from the admission timeline. It isn’t. If a university’s non-EEA application deadline is February 1 for a September intake, and you submit your program application on February 1 hoping to “sort out the scholarship later,” you’ve likely already missed the scholarship window, because many university scholarship committees review candidates as applications come in, not after a single grand deadline.
The second mistake is underestimating how competitive the wide-net scholarships have become. The Holland Scholarship sounds accessible because it’s offered at most Dutch universities, but each institution only has a limited number of slots. Utrecht University, for instance, has historically awarded it to a capped number of new international students per academic year, not to every qualifying applicant. A strong GPA and a clear letter matter more than people assume.
The third is ignoring bilateral or country-specific scholarships because they sound obscure. If you’re from