The Danish government has proposed removing SU for students living at home if their parents’ combined income exceeds 710,000 kroner a year. Politicians from both the right and the left reject the idea that this amounts to a high income.
Finance Minister Peter Hummelgaard of the Social Democrats spoke to DR on September 29 about the government’s finance-law proposal. One central element is cutting SU for home-living students whose parents together earn more than 710,000 kroner before tax a year, DR reports.
Per DR, that threshold corresponds to an average monthly salary of 29,584 kroner before tax for each parent. Hummelgaard said the government is not targeting young people in particular, and that much of the spending it wants to make concerns them. The measure applies only to students living at home with parents on high incomes, according to the minister.
Dansk Folkeparti and Enhedslisten both reject the “high income” label
Anders Vistisen, finance spokesperson for Dansk Folkeparti, said a combined income of 710,000 kroner does not place a family in the high-income group. He described 29,584 kroner a month as a completely ordinary average income. He also said the finance minister appears far from the reality of ordinary Danes.
Vistisen added that he knows both skilled and unskilled workers earning around that level. He pointed to families with children who find it hard to make ends meet, citing high gasoline prices and rising living costs. Those workers do not feel they are among the highest paid in Denmark, per Vistisen.
Victoria Velasquez, finance spokesperson for Enhedslisten, also declined to call 710,000 kroner a high income. She said such a household could consist of a care worker and a bus driver. That is not what most people associate with a high-earning family, according to Velasquez.
Velasquez noted that housing costs differ sharply depending on where a family lives. Parents no longer receive child benefit once a young person turns 18, she said. A shortage of cheap housing in the large cities limits young people’s options for moving out, per Velasquez.
Median pay sits well above the proposed SU threshold
DR cited figures from Danmarks Statistik showing a median wage of 48,700 kroner a month. That is almost 20,000 kroner higher than the per-parent level the government describes as a high income. Enhedslisten says parents’ finances should not determine whether young people can study.
The SU change forms part of the government’s proposal for the coming finance law. A separate DR overview of the proposal puts the number of home-living students at 81,000. The proposal has not been adopted and must pass through negotiations in Folketinget.
What the SU proposal means for international students and families
SU is the Danish state education grant, paid monthly to students in higher education and youth education. The rate depends on whether a student is registered as hjemmeboende, living at the parents’ address, or udeboende, living away from home. The student grants scheme already pays home-living students less than those who have moved out.
For families with a foreign background, the proposal would tie a student’s grant to the parents’ combined pre-tax income, as reported by DR. What is not yet known is how the threshold would be applied, since the measure is still only a proposal in the finance-law negotiations. Velasquez’s point about scarce cheap housing in the big cities is relevant for students weighing a move into student housing, which changes the SU rate.
