Legal Issues for MBO students

Questioner

Hello, I am 15 and will be 16 next year, in my final year of pre-vocational secondary education (VMBO-4). After the summer holidays I wanted to do a level 4 MBO legal assistant course. I saw that they had an offer of 2 years instead of 4 years in Utrecht. That seemed good to me, because eventually I want to continue studying and become a public prosecutor. So if I can do mbo shorter, I would like to do this. Now it so happens that I live in Rotterdam... That's quite a journey with high NS costs. My mother is, so to speak, well below the minimum and cannot afford the trip... I would think it a shame to miss such a great opportunity. A student travel product is not possible because I am not that age yet. I did read, for example, that the Province of Limburg reimburses the costs for minors. I couldn't find anything about South Holland/Rotterdam. It would seem a great pity to me not to take that offer there. With their offer I could work part-time as a legal assistant from the age of 18 and study part-time and eventually be a public prosecutor before the age of 28. What am I entitled to or can I get compensation for or something? Or tax deduction? My mother has parental authority and my father recognizes me. Can my father or mother for example get a tax deduction? Or is there a regulation like the one in the province of Limburg? I hope someone can help me with this by providing options?

Lawyer

Let's summarize some different aspects: - As a minor MBO student, you are not entitled to student finance, and therefore not to a student travel product. In your case, that is a problem, because the travel costs make it difficult for you to study in the place where you want to. Traveling for students who are not entitled to student finance is cheap in many cities; minor MBO students often receive a discount. It is therefore worth finding out which public transport subscription is the most advantageous for you. - Underage MBO students do not receive student finance because their parents still receive child benefit. As soon as you become an adult, they are no longer entitled to child benefit and you are entitled to student finance (and a student travel product). These two, child benefit and student finance, therefore alternate. In principle, this means that your parents must provide for your study costs, including child benefit. - Both of your parents are required to contribute to your study costs until you reach the age of 21; both your mother (who has parental authority over you) and your father (who has acknowledged you). In principle, you should therefore turn to them to cover these types of costs, but in this case there seems to be little room for that. - Only the student himself can deduct study costs from income tax; for this you must have an income and pay your study costs yourself. You can then deduct these costs from your taxes. However, travel costs are not study costs, so that does not help you any further. (Study costs are the costs you incur for purchasing books and other materials, and your tuition fees.) - From the next school year (2015-2016), parents with minor children who are studying full-time at MBO can apply for a child-related budget if their income remains below a certain threshold. This is a contribution towards the costs of the child studying, an extra on top of the child benefit. For this school year (201-2015), the 'parental contribution' still applies. This is also an extra allowance for parents with minor children studying at MBO. For more information and an application form, please visit the IB-groep website. Success!