PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (ECYS) Melissa Gumbs said on Tuesday that she had been informed that many St. Maarten students wait too long to register on housing websites, often only a month or two before leaving for the Netherlands. She urged students to register as early as age 16 to increase their chances of securing housing.
She was at the time updating on a meeting she held with a housing corporation in the Netherlands during her recent visit.
“One thing that the housing corporation did say to me, which is unfortunate to hear that it is still happening, is that St. Maarteners tend to register for certain housing websites much too late. Registering a month or two before you go to the Netherlands is not going to help you. You can actually register for these sites, many of them, by the time you are 16,” Gumbs said during a livestream in which she updated on her visit and on matters within her portfolio.
She stressed the importance of early planning and encouraged parents, teachers, and guidance counsellors to have conversations with students about where they plan to study at an early age. “When you are 16, you make that decision at that time. Register to these sites. It gives your profile a little more exposure; you have that time until to actually build up your reputation, so to speak, with those sites.”
Drawing from her own experience studying abroad in the US, Gumbs spoke of the personal responsibility students must take in securing housing and managing related requirements. She said many challenges exist, including limited housing availability even for European students in the Netherlands, making it harder to find individual living spaces.
“These are the tough kind of statements that I think need to be made. I don’t like to BS anybody. To be perfectly honest, I prefer to communicate in a very straightforward manner,” she said. “The reality is that there is a lot more that we also have to do and a lot of personal responsibility that has to be taken for these people who are preparing to go off to the Netherlands.”
Regarding her meeting with the housing corporation, which is connected to Dutch cities, she said that follow-up efforts are underway to explore possible room allotments to help St. Maarten students. “With the housing foundation that we spoke to, we will be following up to identify how we can move forward with possible room allotments. I still encourage everyone to sign up as soon as you know where you’re going to be going; those sites and I will have additional information as we execute or follow up with this housing corporation.”
