The Netherlands is the capital of the scholarship that sounds bigger in a headline than it is in a bank account. A €5,000 grant is real money, but it is not a full ride. Of the five awards below, only two pay both tuition and living costs. The rest ask you to find the difference.
The 2027 comparison
| Award | Level | What it actually covers | Deadline | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maastricht NL-High Potential | Master's | Full tuition, €700 insurance, €1,550/month living (€20,150 for one year, €38,750 for two) | 1 Feb 2027; admission file by 10 Dec 2026 | 18 awards; non-EU students |
| Eric Bleumink, Groningen | Master's | Full tuition, international travel, subsistence, books and health insurance | 1 Dec 2026; admission by 1 Feb 2027 | 4 awards; selected countries, including Pakistan; nomination only |
| Radboud Scholarship | Master's | Tuition cut to about €2,771 plus visa, residence permit and insurance; living costs excluded | 31 Jan 2027; file complete by 14 Feb 2027 | 26 awards; non-EEA students |
| Leiden LExS | Master's | €10,000 to €19,000 off tuition only | 1 Dec 2026 | About 25 awards; non-EEA/EFTA |
| NL Scholarship | Bachelor's / master's | €5,000 one-time grant | Set by each institution | Non-EEA students at participating institutions |
Read the middle column twice. "Full tuition" without living costs still leaves rent, food, insurance and transport. A "tuition cut" leaves even more. That is not a reason to skip these awards, but it is a reason to build a real budget before you accept one.
Maastricht: the closest thing to a full ride
The Maastricht University NL-High Potential Scholarship is the most complete Dutch package in the catalog. It pays tuition at cost, health and liability insurance of €700, and a monthly living allowance of €1,550. For a one-year master's that totals €20,150 across 13 months; for a two-year master's it is €38,750 across 25 months. Eighteen are awarded a year.
The deadline is 1 February 2027 at 23:59 CET, but the real gate is earlier: your master's admission file must be complete by 10 December 2026. Applications open on 1 October 2026. If you apply to Maastricht in January, you have already missed the scholarship.
The monthly budget is itemised by the university: €960 for housing, €160 for groceries and hygiene, €100 for travel, €90 for books, €60 for phone, €125 for clothing and leisure, and €55 for miscellaneous. A cleaning fee of about €75 is not included. Use those numbers, not a generic "cost of living" figure.
Apply through the official Maastricht scholarship page, and read the faculty-specific eligibility before you write the motivation letter. Some programmes have extra requirements.
Groningen: four awards, no open application
The Eric Bleumink Fellowship is a true full ride: tuition, international travel, subsistence, books and health insurance for a 12- to 24-month master's starting in September. It is also the hardest to game. There is no application form. The university's admissions office nominates up to two candidates per faculty, and the committee awards a maximum of four fellowships a year.
To be considered, you must apply for a Groningen master's through Studielink and the Progress Portal before 1 December 2026, and you need provisional or unconditional admission by 1 February 2027. The country list is long and includes Pakistan, but not every developing country. Check the official EBF page before you assume you qualify.
If the admissions office contacts you in early January, you have about a week to send a motivation letter. That is the moment the fellowship becomes real. Keep a draft ready.
Radboud: a large fee cut, not a living grant
Radboud's scholarship reduces tuition for a complete English-taught master's to about €2,771, against a full fee that can be around €19,000. The university says the exact figure is still to be confirmed. It also pays visa, residence permit, health insurance and liability insurance. Living costs are explicitly not covered. Twenty-six awards are available for 2027/28.
The deadline is 31 January 2027 at 23:59 CET, and the file must be complete by 14 February 2027. You need two reference letters and a CV in addition to the admission documents. The scholarship selection is separate from admission, so an offer does not mean you won the money.
One useful detail: Radboud allows you to combine this award with the NL Scholarship. That does not make it a full ride, but it closes part of the gap. Start at the Radboud scholarship page.
Leiden: €10,000 to €19,000 off, nothing more
Leiden's LExS is awarded at five fixed levels: €10,000, €15,000, €17,500, €18,500 or €19,000 off the tuition fee. The university says plainly that it is not a full scholarship and that recipients must still show proof of sufficient funds for the visa. Around 25 awards go to more than a thousand applicants.
The deadline is 1 December 2026. Apply for admission first, then open the scholarship section in the same portal and upload a motivation letter of no more than 500 words as a PDF. You need a non-EEA/EFTA passport and results around the top 10% of your previous programme. Leiden Law School's non-advanced LLM and MSc programmes are excluded.
If you are targeting Leiden, treat LExS as a discount, not a funding plan. The official LExS page lists the exact exclusions.
NL Scholarship: €5,000 is a top-up
The NL Scholarship, formerly the Holland Scholarship, is a one-time €5,000 grant for non-EEA students starting a full-time bachelor's or master's at a participating institution. It is co-funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education and executed by Nuffic. It is not a full-tuition award, and there is no single deadline: each institution runs its own selection.
Use it as a top-up, especially if you receive Radboud's fee reduction. Check the Study in NL page for the participating institutions and their dates.
Two warnings before you shortlist. Utrecht's own site says the Utrecht Excellence Scholarship is no longer offered for programmes starting in 2026–27, so ignore the 2027 lists that still advertise it. Twente's UTS is real, but it is a €3,000 to €22,000 partial grant with a 1 April 2027 deadline, and the university does not pay tuition on your behalf. Read the UTS page before you count it as funding.
The order I would use
If you need the fullest package, start with Maastricht and check the 10 December admission cutoff. If your country is on the EBF list and your grades are strong, apply to Groningen before 1 December and hope for a nomination. If you can cover living costs, Radboud's fee cut plus the NL Scholarship is a sensible combination. If Leiden is your best academic fit, apply for LExS knowing you still need roughly a year of living money.
Do not apply to all five because they are on one page. Each application takes a different motivation letter, and a rushed file is how strong candidates lose.
Compare the live deadlines in the scholarship catalog, or narrow to the Netherlands. Then build your student profile so the match score reflects your degree, field and GPA before you choose a city.
Sources: Maastricht NL-High Potential, Eric Bleumink Fellowship, Radboud Scholarship Programme, Leiden LExS and NL Scholarship; checked on 10 November 2026.