Demonstation against tuition fine

Yesterday (29-11-2010) I demonstrated for the first time. In Groningen it was a completely peaceful demonstration as far as I know. Why did I demonstrate? Read on.

The Dutch government has come up with the idea that students who take even one year longer than 3 years for their BA title should pay an additional 3000€!! next to the normal tuition fee of around 1700€. Oh and as far as I know, that 3000€ fine is stackable for an extra year.

*scroll down if you don't care too much for my ranting but do like students freezing their asses off on the Grote Markt in Groningen.

Oh and if you want to start a MA? Well, no governmental support at all, you'll have to pay for the entire year by yourself. Now I've studied my fair share of years and I'll probably be done before the aforementioned plan takes effect but it pisses me off! I think you should demonstrate because you agree with the demonstrators, not just because something hurts you directly. The thing is, it cóuld've hurt me directly. I wouldn't have been able to pay for uni if they thought of something like this say 3 years back.

There are dozens of really good reasons not to be able to finish your BA in 3 years flat.
1) getting ill (apparently not an issue for the government atm)
2) being handicapped
3) being a member of a board of a study society (like I was) which can easily cost you a year.
4)choosing a study that didn't turn out to be what you thought it was..a pricy mistake!
5) I'll probably forget a couple..so fill in whatever

And then you have to decide to live on a loan for the MA even if you've managed to complete your BA in 3 years flat.
Mind you, the government hasn't let an opportunity go to point out that you:
1) Shouldn't borrow too much money because you'll built up a big debt.
2) Shouldn't work too much on the side because you won't have enough time to study..
...which begs the question how the F people are supposed to get through uni..

Ranting cut short..here are some photo's!

It says: 'Save the (school)banks!'


Loosely translated: 'Wanted: rich parents!'


Our current rector magnificus


I took some shots of the crowd behind me, there were aprox. 1500-2000 students in the freezing cold, it started snowing halfway through (btw, here I found out I had the setting of my cam wrong for the other pics - too lazy to correct):

How to legally buy a cheap bike in Groningen

*Updated the dates for 2016, unfortunately the next one is not until the 7th of February*

Having a bike in Groningen is essential. You don't really want to do too much driving by car in the city centre, the buses are overcrowded and bikes are fairly cheap.

The problem is, I live 10-15 minutes away from the city centre which means I make alot of miles, which in turn means my bike suffers. My last bike set me back about 70€ and at the end of februari (I bought it 2nd hand a year ago) my right brake, my gears, the chain and more random stuff were broken. And a month earlier I had my tire fixed for 13€. After the damage mentioned above, my bike just wasn't worth repairing.

So I had to get a new one..
Getting one cheap in Groningen leaves you with a couple of options:
1) talking to the first junkie you see offering a bike for 5-10€ (which will be stolen of course)
2) stealing one yourself
3) buying second (or third/fourth whatever) hand from a store
4) Going to the depot which sells bikes at a very good discount every first friday of the month.

1 and 2 are just plain stealing and me being oh so holy just won't make this step because it's really irritating if its your bike that get's stolen next time (and next to that the police are checking better lately which leaves you with a fine of 350€ and a criminal record!).

3: did this last time, set me back 70€, not cheap enough.
4: bikes which are left around in the city in the wrong places (outside parking zones in certain parts of the city, bikes get collected by cityworkers) or which are collected because they're wreckages get a fix up and are sold once a month for really good prices!

So if you want to buy a góod bike for a cheap price this is how it works:
It's half past 6 in the morning, it rains, it's cold and the people travelling through the city are grumpy. You take a place in the fastly growing row of bike-less people. An hour later you get to draw a number (first come first served). There were around 45 bikes this time and they gave numbers to around 60 people in case some people didn't want to buy the bikes that were left (not liking the bikes or those that were left might be more expensive than what someone wants to spend).

At 8.45 am the first couple (7 in our case of which me and my brother were 2) of people were let in to choose a bike. I think prices started at around 20-25€. I got a bike for 35€ which had: good brakes, working lights and 7 gears! Mind you, they also had bikes in categories around 180€ but those were really really good, you won't be able to buy a 2nd hand bike in a store of that quality in any store.

******Update*****2016
The dates for the sale in 2016 are:

5 and 19 February;
4 and 18 March;
1,  15 and 29th of April;
13 and 27 May
10 and 24 June
8 July
26 August
9 en 23 September
7 and 21 October
4 and 18 November
2 and 16 December


Dates should be updated regulary here.

If you're buying one via other ways (e.g. the For sale in Groningen facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/203402449673669/ or Marktplaats.nl) you might want to ask for the framenumber and check if it's stolen on Stopheling.nl
Unfortanely, the sites (dates and stopheling) are in Dutch, but it shouldn't be to big of a problem, otherwise ask :).

*********************
Another tip if you live in or close to the Vinkhuizen neighbourhood: call this guy:
http://fietshuizen.nl/
Great service and your bike gets fixed way faster then practically anywhere else for a decent price.