For decades, moving into a student room was treated as a rite of passage in the Netherlands. New research from the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS) and the Nederlands Interdisciplinair Demografisch Instituut (NIDI) suggests that passage is opening later, and for a growing share of students, never at all. Among graduates who finished a five-year higher-education programme in 2023, 43 percent had lived at their parents' home for the entire study period, up from 31 percent among the 2016 graduation cohort (NOS, 2026; CBS, 2026). That shift matters for how municipalities, institutions, and student unions read the housing crisis: thuiswonend studenten Nederland is no longer a fringe category. It is becoming a default pathway for nearly half of a graduating cohort.
What changed between 2016 and 2023
The CBS analysis tracks students at HBO colleges and universities (wo) who started a programme before age twenty and completed a five-year trajectory. The researchers deliberately narrowed the sample to avoid mixing in students who had already lived independently before enrolment (CBS methodology note, 2026). Within that frame, the delay is visible at every milestone. Of the 2016 cohort, 63 percent still lived at home after the first study year; for the 2023 cohort that figure rose to 79 percent. After three years, the share still at home climbed from 43 percent to 60 percent (CBS, 2026).
The chart below compares three milestones for the 2016 and 2023 graduation cohorts. The gap widens at each stage, which suggests that delayed move-out is compounding rather than a one-year blip.
HBO students carry most of the shift
The pattern is not evenly distributed across sectors. Among HBO graduates who finished in 2016, 41 percent had not moved out during their studies; by 2023 that share reached 55 percent. At universities the increase was smaller in absolute terms but still significant: from 19 percent to 32 percent (NOS, 2026). Regional college networks often draw students from shorter commuting distances, which partly explains the HBO skew, but the direction of travel is the same everywhere: fewer young adults anchor near campus during their degree.
Student loans are part of the story, not the whole story
Public commentary frequently links thuiswonen to the 2015 introduction of the student loan system (leenstelsel). The CBS timeline supports a correlation: move-out rates shifted after loans replaced the basic grant. In 2023 the basic grant returned, yet the housing market had tightened further in the interim. LSVb chair Maaike Krom told NOS that scarcity and affordability now reinforce each other: students skip the room search because they already know supply is insufficient (NOS, 2026).
National shortage estimates underline that structural constraint. In early 2026, government housing coordinator Ardin Mourik told NOS that roughly 23,000 student rooms were still missing nationwide, with a policy target of 60,000 additional affordable units by 2030 (NOS, 2026). Separate reporting on the Wet Betaalbare Huur and tighter rental rules documented a sharp drop in private room listings in 2025, with students able to respond to fewer than 5,800 units under 25 square metres in one quarter, down about 30 percent year on year (NOS, 2025). When rooms disappear from the market, staying at home is not only cheaper. For many students it is the only realistic option.
What thuiswonen means for wellbeing and campus life
Living at home is not inherently harmful. For some students it offers financial stability and family support during intense study years. The risk appears when thuiswonen is involuntary: when students who want independent housing cannot secure it, or when long commutes replace time on campus. Kences director Jolan de Bie has argued in Dutch media that students who remain at their parents' home can miss parts of social-emotional development tied to student life, with downstream effects on networks and labour-market entry (quoted in NOS, 2025). That framing treats housing access as infrastructure for belonging, not a lifestyle choice.
Institutions already track attendance, counselling referrals, and study delay. Fewer publish how housing status correlates with those indicators. As thuiswonen becomes normal for nearly half of some graduating cohorts, that blind spot grows. Commute time, evening social access, and the ability to participate in internships or part-time work near campus all hinge on whether a student can live within reasonable distance of their programme.
Regional spillover and the commuter-student model
Municipalities outside traditional university cities are experimenting with absorbing overflow demand. Almere is building 1,250 new student units, including 500 reserved for Amsterdam students who face a half-hour train commute (NOS, 2026). Assen, near Groningen, aims to house 300 to 400 students as programmes expand locally. These projects may ease pressure in core cities, but they also extend the commuter-student model that CBS data already describes at the parental-home end of the spectrum.
Questions for policymakers and institutions
The CBS release gives planners a clearer baseline. Three questions follow from the numbers. First, how many enrolled students in each faculty are thuiswonend by choice versus by constraint, and does that split differ between HBO and university tracks? Second, do students who never move out during their degree show different progression or wellbeing signals in institutional data? Third, as rental reform continues to shrink private room supply, what interim measures (hospita schemes, flex housing, regional satellite capacity) can prevent thuiswonen from hardening into the default path for students who would prefer to live near campus?
The basic grant's return may ease financial pressure for some households. It does not by itself create rooms. Until supply catches up with demand, Dutch higher education is effectively running a dual-track experience: students who secure scarce rooms near campus, and students who build their degree around a parental address. The CBS figures make that divide measurable.
Further reading on this site
For the broader retention picture, see student housing shortage and retention. For international students facing a different but related access gap, see international student housing in the Netherlands. Institutional context by city and sector is summarised on the universities and colleges page. Editorial standards for this series are described on about Domu Match.
Sources
CBS. (2026, June). Steeds meer studenten wonen hun hele studie thuis. https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/nieuws/2026/06/steeds-meer-studenten-wonen-hun-hele-studie-thuis
CBS. (2026). Thuiswonende studenten, 2016-2023 (maatwerk). https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/maatwerk/2026/06/thuiswonende-studenten-2016-2023
NOS. (2026). Meer studenten bleven na invoering leenstelsel gehele studententijd thuis wonen. https://nos.nl/artikel/2601121-meer-studenten-bleven-na-invoering-leenstelsel-gehele-studententijd-thuis-wonen
NOS. (2026). Kamertekort blijft hoog, Assen en Almere bieden zich aan als studentenstad. https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2535619-kamertekort-blijft-hoog-assen-en-almere-bieden-zich-aan-als-studentenstad
NOS. (2025). Door nieuwe verhuurregels komen studenten nóg moeilijker aan een kamer. https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2573960-door-nieuwe-verhuurregels-komen-studenten-nog-moeilijker-aan-een-kamer
NOS. (2025). Steeds meer studenten geven de hoop om een kamer te vinden op. https://nos.nl/artikel/2581086-steeds-meer-studenten-geven-de-hoop-om-een-kamer-te-vinden-op