The Netherlands’ 13 universities face making a loss of €257 million this year, due mainly to mounting personal and accommodation costs, according to research by EY accountants.

Planned savings by the universities are insufficient to offset the losses and government cuts will only make the problems worse, the Financieele Dagblad quoted the report as saying.

Last year, just four universities ended in the black and the total loss was some €105 million.

“The loss is down to the sharp rise in personnel costs and an increase in building costs,” EY Society partner Ralph Poulssen told BNR radio.

The right-wing cabinet wants to cut spending on higher education by €1 billion and has cut budgets next year by €175 million, which is a year earlier than expected.

Universities have not yet incorporated this into their spending plans, making the losses likely to be even higher, Poulssen said. “Cuts always take some time to implement and have an effect,” he said.

The government also wants to slash the number of international students. Students from outside the EU pay much higher fees.

The universities say they hope to be profitable again by 2026.