I’m middle class. We have quite a large house, but aren’t affluent by any means. I currently live in a small student apartment. My parents are divorced and my dad has remarried. I have good family relations, luckily. For all intentions and purposes, I would describe myself as having a typical background. I’m not dealing with immediate money concerns for the time being, but I certainly hope I land a job for the summer and save up a bit. Our school system has no tuition fees and I hope to make it all the way through my Master’s studies without racking up debt. The state is quite supportive of students in general, although benefits will be cut soon in favor of incentivizing students to take up a loan, which many people object to.

Tuition is still going to be free, but the direct monthly support students get will be cut, I believe. So the state provides monthly support as long as you get enough credits, and also allows students to take up a low interest loan, which is also partially backed up by the state, so you don’t actually have to pay it back in full. This change is meant to leave the less student relying on the monthly support alone, since it is more expensive for the state. Tuition fees for international students will be introduced soon – thus far studying has been ‘free’ for them as well.
My sister moved to the Netherlands last year to study and immediately took up a loan. I hope she handles it responsibly, knowing her past spending habits. I can be quite frugal myself.
The government elected by last year’s elections did introduce a number of budget cuts to help the budget deficit – and the extra spending caused by the refugee crisis ate up most of the ‘saved’ money, I believe. It’s a mess.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Mete.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Mete.

We have a budget deficit because we still haven’t fully recovered from the 2008 crisis. Last year, a number of cuts were introduced to help reduce that deficit, but not only is cutting funds spent on education incredibly counterproductive, the refuge crisis is such a money sinkhole that we’re no better off than we were before because no actual money has been saved. I’m not sure what the consensus on that decision is. Obviously, you have people supporting taking in tons of refugees – typically people on benefits themselves and with little understanding of economics.
I did actually talk about this in my second post on that forum – really, it was a big mess where I tried to combine several topics into one post – and expressed my opposition toward taking in refugees, which led to people guilt tripping me and I ended up making donations to refugee funds to help me feel better. It was a stupid martyr move all around. Like I said, I had other forums with very like minded people where I could’ve discussed this stuff freely with no fear of my words backfiring on me.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Mete.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Mete.

The refugee crisis was not my main concern at the time, although I did try to debate it on the side. My main concern at the time was the role of islam in Europe, to which the refugee crisis does tie, since many of the refugees are muslim. There are some eastern European countries who have announced their willingness to take in refugees, but only if they are Christian, if my memory is to be believed. Currently, I don’t really know what I believe. I mean, for a long time I didn’t know what I thought about any of this – it hadn’t been part of my interests and I had never formed an opinion. I had been gathering statistics and following news related to immigration and islam for a while and it was that first post I made that really got me thinking more about it – you could say I became obsessed. Now I suppose I am back to square one – I have gone back on my words and it is no longer an immediate interest of mine – which does frustrate me, because I would like to be interested in it and debate it elsewhere, but I have been burned to the point where I would just rather take a long break from all of it, and get back to it when I am genuinely interested in it again and do not feel like I owe anyone anything for my past words. I clearly remember how just before I made that second post, I was so ridiculiusly excited that it completely clouded my judgment. They were discussing a hate crime directed toward some muslims at the time which should’ve been a red flag that hey, maybe this isn’t the right place to debate this.

I’m very thankful that you’re taking the time to discuss this with me. I also booked an appointment for a health check next week, and they’ll hopefully direct me to a psychologist.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Mete.

They’ll place me on a queue after the health check and I have no idea how long the queue will be. I’ll be sure to keep you updated, though.

Hello! It’s been a while. I’m feeling a bit better, it certainly helps that it’s not so dark anymore. Had my psychologist appointment and it went as you’d expect. We went through the whole ordeal, he asked some questions and so forth. Nothing groundbreaking, but it did help a bit and it’s certainly nice to be able to talk about this stuff with a professional. I have another appointment a few weeks from now.

I got in touch with the last person related to this on that forum and she was very supportive and condemned the way others behaved toward me back then so that’s nice. I’m done with that forum for good.

Also, some changes to my plans. I applied for master’s studies but screwed up the application process and received a negative reply – in other words, I have to wait another year to apply again. So what I’ll instead do now is continue my current studies with a fifth year. This is honestly okay because now I don’t have to worry about graduation. I did not manage to land a job for the summer, so I’ll spend it doing some online courses for credits and recovering so that I have energy in the fall. If money becomes an issue, I can look for a part time job in the fall, or take up a loan.