UPDATE: The STAP-programme will stop; 3 July 2023 was the last date that you could apply for Dutch courses using the STAP-budget.

The 2 remaining STAP-rounds for 2023 can NOT be used for Dutch courses, only for OCW recognised education. This is government funded professional education. Dutch courses for expats are never OCW-recognised.

Like before the STAP-budget, you can participate in our courses if you pay yourself for the course.

More information about our offline courses: https://dutchsummerschool.nl
More information about our online virtual classrooms: https://www.learndutch.org/virtual-classrooms/

Courses with a minimum starting A2 starting level and minimum B1 end level can be funded with the STAP-budget.

We offer 3 options to use the 1000€ STAP-budget:

Option 1:   2 levels – virtual classroom
– More information about the virtual classrooms: here.
– sublevels 3+4 (from A2 to B1), sublevels 4+5 (from A2+ to B1+), sublevels 5+6 (B1/B2), or B2/C1
– 2×10 sessions online (76 academic hours* of tuition)
– Mo+We or Tu+Th
– Morning or evening
– Start in September

Costs: 990€, covered by STAP-budget: 990 €.
You pay yourself:
– book: 39 €  (we have one book for level 1+2, one book for level 3+4, one book for level 5+6)
– the book for B2/C1 ‘Nederlands naar Perfectie’ cannot be purchased from us, you can order it here


Option 2:   2 levels – intensive offline course at our Language Campus
– More information about the Dutch Summer School and the Dutch Winter School
– sublevels 3+4 (from A2 to B1), sublevels 4+5 (from A2+ to B1+), sublevels 5+6 (B1/B2)
– 2 x weekend+week+weekend (80 academic hours* of tuition): 30-09-2023 till 08-10-2023 AND 04-11-2023 till 12-11-2023

Costs: 1190€, covered by STAP-budget-1000€
You pay yourself:
– rest sum education: 190€
– book: 39€  (we have one book for level 3+4, one book for level 5+6)
– accommodation 20 nights: shared room (19€/night), single room shared bathroom (29 €/night), single room private bathroom (51 €/night), double room private bathroom (61 €/night)


Option 3:   1 level – intensive offline course at our Language Campus
– More information about the Dutch Summer School and the Dutch Winter School
– sublevel 5 (B1+) or sublevel 6 (B1/B2)
– weekend+week+weekend or 2 weeks (40 academic hours* of tuition)
– start in September, November
– STAP-budget includes book

Costs: 634 €, covered by STAP-budget- 634€
You pay yourself:
– accommodation 10 nights: shared room (22€/night), single room shared bathroom (34 €/night), single room private bathroom (51 €/night), double room private bathroom (61 €/night)


How to apply?

You can use this form to apply.

You cannot use the STAP-budget:
– for courses with end level A1 or A2 (sublevels 1 and 2)
– for the online #dutchgrammar course as a self study package
– for courses that start less than 4 weeks after the UWV application date
– for courses at our language campus in Drenthe in July/August
– if you learn Dutch as a hobby or to pass the civic integration exam (STAP is exclusively meant for improving your position at the labour market!)

The Dutch government provides funding to improve the position on the labour market of people living in the Netherlands. Dutch language education for foreigners is included in this programme (except from level beginner to A2). The government sponsors 1 time per year a course up to € 1000.

The conditions:
– you are between 18 and 67 years old
– you have at least A2 level of Dutch
– you are covered by social security (usually automatically: if you live in the Netherlands or have income in the Netherlands)
– you have a BSN number / digiD.
– you don’t receive student finance / pension / DUO loan
– you have not been rewarded the STAP Budget in the current calendar year
– you are learning Dutch to improve your position at the labour market or to improve your chances to find a (better) job

Please note! The previous requirement that you or your partner need EU nationality has been dropped! So all nationalities can apply (regardless whether you have an EU partner or not)!

If you doubt whether you are eligible or not, you can do the pre-check at UWV‘s website or contact STAP’s telephone number: 088 – 898 22 02

With respect to the course:
– Dutch ourses can be funded if the end level of the course is B1 or higher
– the organisation needs to meet certain standards, like having the NRTO quality mark (which we have)
– the course needs to be listed in the DUO Scholingsregister (our courses are listed)
– the course has the goal to improve course participant’s position in the Dutch labour market
– all the other student requirements of Bart de Pau Language Courses are applicable

Please note: if you are learning Dutch to pass the civic integration exam, if you learn it as a hobby, or any other reason that has nothing to do with improving your position at the labour market: you cannot use the STAP-budget!

You don’t meet the conditions?
You can still to the course, but pay yourself.

Step 1:  Use this form to register on our website. You need to do this before July 02, 2023. The earlier the better! (groups might fill up quickly). 
Step 2: We will send you a confirmation of your application by e-mail within 24 hours.
Step 3: We will send you a pdf ‘STAP-Aanmeldingsbewijs‘ not later than 24 June (or within 1 day if you applied after 24 June) + detailed instructions on how to apply (as mentioned in step 4)
Step 4: 3 July at 10:00 o’clock you need to be ready to start your registration at the UWV website (a department of the Dutch government). Make sure you have your digiD and ‘STAP-aanmeldingsbewijs’. 
Step 5: As soon as it’s your turn, you can login with digiD and upload your ‘STAP-aanmeldingsbewijs’
Step 6: UWV will take up to 4 weeks to confirm approve your budget (usually faster).
Step 7: UWV will deal directly with us regarding the payment of your budget; and your further involvement is not required for dealing with the budget
Step 8: We will send you a payment link if you ordered extras that are not covered by the budget.
Step 9: One months prior ot the start of your course: we will send you all relevant information / intake forms / briefings / instructions for your online account  etc. (the same proces as with direct payments and follow up of information)

Sign up at our website before July 02, 2023. You can sign up at UWV 3 July at 10 o’clock.

It is important to realise that you can’t use the STAP-budget for last-minute reservations. It’s a matter of planning ahead!

– In the months prior to that start of an application period at UWV, you can pre-register with at our website (step 1). For example if the application at UWV starts 3 July (step 4), you can register at our website in May, June, 1+2 July
– UWV will take up to 4 weeks to approve your budget (step 6); that is counted from the moment you register at UWV (the start of the application period). So if you applied 3 July (step 4), you will know 31 July if your budget was approved (step 6).

Resuming:
– you need to apply in May/June/1+2 July with this form (step 1), if you want to use the budget for a course that starts in September – November

We notice that some people are too eager to get the STAP-budget, without properly knowing what they apply for.

As a result, people realise after approval that they signed up for the wrong level, that they don’t meet the student requirements or that the study load is too high to combine with a busy life. This leads to disappointments and possible cancellation of the STAP-budget.

We once again would like to stress that:
– you need to do the level test prior to signing up, having the right minimum entry level is an obligation!
– our courses are for higher educated learners
– our courses are for people who know English (instruction language of the videos)
– it is an intensive courses with a lot of homework (3-4 hours per lesson)

Please do the same research that you would do if you had to pay for the course yourself!

FAQ

If your budget is not approved: the reservation is automatically cancelled (no cancellation costs).

You will have the option to sign up and pay yourself or try it in the next STAP-round (two months later)

#dutchgrammar is a video course; one of the requirements of a STAP-funded course is that there is teacher-student interaction (so video courses can’t be paid with the STAP-budget).

No. The STAP-budget covers educational costs only, not housing costs.

Fortunately, our housing costs in Drenthe are really low (starting from 19 euros/night) because we own the accommodation.

No. The criteria are strict. There is no chance of getting the STAP-budget if you don’t meet all the criteria.

With the STAP-budget, you can get maximum 1000 euros for 1 course.

So, we wanted to offer maximum value for this budget.

So we looked what we can offer for this price using the our regular rates.

The regular rate of 2 virtual classroom levels matches exactly the total budget.

The regular rate of 1 offline intensive course still had some budget left. So we slightly adjusted the package by including the book. The STAP-budget allows course materials that are necessary for the course to be covered by the budget.

No, problem. You can sign up for the STAP-budget. If your budget was not approved, you can book the course and pay yourself.

Cancellation before applying at UWV:
You can cancel the application without any costs.

Cancellation after UWV’s approval, but before the start of the course:
After the budget is approved, the regular cancellation terms apply.

Early termination:
One of the obligations of the STAP-budget is that you do the maximum you can to complete the course. If you couldn’t finish the course, UWV might ask you to explain the reasons. If UWV comes to the conclusion that you didn’t do all you could to finish the course there is a risk they might ask you to refund the STAP-budget.

Changing levels
UWV does not allow to change after a course is approved. It is extremely important that you read the level descriptions, do the level test on our website BEFORE signing up.

Never sign up for a level too high!

Changing dates
Small changes in course dates (up to a month) are allowed by UWV. But please note: we can’t guarantee last-minute date switches. If you want to change dates contact us as soon as possible. As long as we haven’t made the final groups (usually 3-4 weeks prior to the course) we might be able to offer a solution.

The UWV website says that you can apply for a course that starts:
– not earlier than 4 weeks after the application
– not later than 3 months after the application period

But how is it then possible that 1 September, you can apply for a course that starts in January?

Well, it’s important to understand that the application period counts from 1 September to 31 October. So the course has to start within 3 months after 31 October (= 31 January). That is why you can apply 1 September for a course that starts in January.

You can get the budget once per year. The date of application is leading, not the course date.

So, if you applied successfully in November for a course in March 2023, you can apply again 28 February 2023.

Schools, that have multiple starting dates for the same course, are advised to register 1 education-id with a ‘continuous’ starting date from 1 January to 31 December, instead of registering an id for each starting date.

This means that the dates on the STAP-aanmeldingsbewijs are leading, and not the dates in the ‘Scholingsregister’.