Thousands of Danish students took to the streets on Wednesday to protest a government plan to cut student allowances.
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A dozen high school and university student associations marched from Copenhagen’s City Hall Square to parliament under a banner displaying “enough is enough” to denounce proposed cuts to free up funds for defence spending.
“Less Support, Less Educated,” “Broken Promises,” and “Don’t Cheat the Young” were among the slogans chanted by the thousands of young people marching under police surveillance.
Student protests that started in France have spread to other European countries in recent weeks. In Denmark, around 40,000 students were on strike at 57 schools, with 12,000 to 13,000 joining the protest, which was conducted in a peaceful atmosphere.
“In Denmark, we get funding and economic support for getting an education, and we’re very proud of this,” said one protest organiser, Danish High School Students’ Association president Oscar Tonsberg Hoffmann.
He says it would be wrong to dismantle “one of the world’s strongest educational systems.”
Student allowance cuts for high-revenue families
A draft budget bill proposes abolishing the SU allowance (the Danish acronym for the student allowance) for students who live with their parents and whose parents’ total annual income exceeds 700,000 Danish kroner (€94,000).
The centre-left government plan would also reduce the amount students receive if their parents earn between 419,589 kroner (€56,138) and 700,000 kroner a year (€94,000).
In 2026, the median gross income per adult in Denmark is set at 434,480 kroner a year (€58,000), while the 10% richest earn 919,767 kroner a year (€123,000), according to Forbes and World Inequality Database’s calculations.
Until now, the SU allowance has been given to all students over the age of 18.
“I’m infuriated that we finally get a supposedly ‘red’ government in Denmark that includes the left parties, and anyway we get cuts to our welfare and to the economies of young people whilst they’re funding corporate tax reductions and warfare,” said Kieran Hindshaw, a 23-year-old agronomy student.
“I hope they will look at this demonstration and change their mind.”
Around 14,000 students expected to lose grant
This bill would cut grants for 14,000 students and reduce the amount for approximately 8,000 others, according to the Higher Education Ministry.
In force since 1970, SU is one of the cornerstones of Denmark’s egalitarian university system, enabling all young people to get an education regardless of their parents’ income.
The amount students currently receive is 1,154 kroner (€154) a month for those who live with their parents, and 7,426 kroner (€993) for those who live on their own.
The government has also proposed to only grant unemployment benefits to recent university graduates who have worked for 18 of the last 24 months of their studies.
Dagmar Demuth, a high school student attending the protest, said the SU made it easier for students to make ends meet.
“It’s important when you are in school and trying to educate yourself. It’s hard to have to pay for yourself, so sometimes it’s nice to have a little helping hand with the SU,” she said.
Left-wing parties support cuts as ‘compromise’
Tonsberg Hoffmann of the student association said high school organisations have tried to have a dialogue with the government, but without success.
Despite previously opposing education cuts, some parties within the government, such as the Socialist People’s Party and the Social Liberal Party, defended this proposal.
Interior and Economic Affairs Minister Pia Olsen Dyhr has had to explain herself, as she had vowed that her Socialist People’s Party would not touch the student grant system.
“It’s no secret that this is not an initiative that comes from us. But we have made compromises in this government, and I fully stand by them,” she said.
“This is an economically responsible policy,” said Industry Minister and Social Liberal Party leader Martin Lidegaard, conceding these cuts “are not pleasant decisions.”
