With three years of undergraduate study setting you back by £45,000, and the cost of a master’s degree on the wrong side of £10,000, the financial future for UK graduates looks bleak.

But there is a solution, and it’s wafting from the coffee shops and across the tulip fields of the Netherlands. It’s also a solution UK students are being encouraged to take. In July, the president of Maastricht University urged British students to apply as soon as possible while they can still enjoy the low rate of tuition fees being offered to EU citizens.

As a British master’s student studying at Leiden University, I can attest to the joys of the Dutch university system - and here are just nine reasons why I encourage you to take Maastricht’s advice:

1. Fees

If you fear the inevitable repayment demand from the Student Loans Company, then the Netherlands is the place for you. The annual tuition fee for most undergraduate and graduate courses is only about £1,700, with the Dutch government providing loans to cover the entire amount. The interest rate is only 0.81 per cent - compared to the UK rate of up to three per cent - and you don’t make any repayments for the first two years after graduation.

2. Housing benefit

Unlike in the UK, students on a low income are entitled to Dutch housing benefit. And because you can only claim it if you have your own front door, bathroom, and kitchen, it can actually be cheaper to rent a studio than live in a flatshare.

The 24 best universities in the world Show all 24 1 /24 The 24 best universities in the world The 24 best universities in the world 24. University of Edinburgh, UK — 80.3 Teaching: 68.6 Research: 77.2 Overall: 80.3 Founded in 1583, Edinburgh is the sixth-oldest university in the English-speaking world. Extremely notable alumni include Charles Darwin, Alexander Graham Bell, and Arthur Conan-Doyle The 24 best universities in the world 23. London School of Economics, UK — 81.3​ Teaching: 69.8 Research: 80.6 Overall: 81.3 Leaping 11 places from last year, LSE is one of the foremost universities in Europe for studying business, finance, and economics. This shows in its graduates: According to a 2014 study, LSE produced the most billionaires of any European university The 24 best universities in the world 22. Carnegie Mellon University, US — 82.3​ Teaching: 67.4 Research: 88.8 Overall: 82.3 “My heart is in the work” is CMU's motto, and it's accordingly known for many inventions and innovations in the fields of driverless cars, brain science, data, and more. It was also, curiously, the first university to create a “smile” in an email, in 1982 The 24 best universities in the world 21. University of Michigan, US — 82.4 Teaching: 76.8 Research: 85.2 Overall: 82.4 One of the biggest research centres in the US, Michigan was attended by President Ford and Google cofounder Larry Page. Mysteriously, a large cube-shaped object sits on campus, balanced on one corner so students can spin it around despite its weight Getty The 24 best universities in the world 20. Duke University, US — 82.7 Teaching: 76.0 Research: 78.0 Overall: 82.7 One of the wealthiest universities in the country, Duke is known for its sporting prowess as much as its academics, and its basketball squad is one of the best college teams in the US. President Richard Nixon graduated from here, as did future heads of Apple, JPMorgan, and PepsiCo The 24 best universities in the world 19. University of Toronto, Canada — 83.9​ Teaching: 75.9 Research: 89.3 Overall: 83.9 A university known for its research and innovation, Toronto has academic papers that are among the most cited in the world. It also has a wide array of extracurricular activities, with more than 800 student clubs, which probably explains why such a high proportion of its alumni begin startup companies The 24 best universities in the world 18. Cornell University, US — 84.0​ Teaching: 77.9 Research: 86.1 Overall: 84.0 A private Ivy League university with a mission to “discover, preserve, and disseminate knowledge,” Cornell boasts a glorious campus in upstate New York that allows students to hike around the Finger Lakes. It also has daily bell performances, a tradition dating back to 1868 The 24 best universities in the world 17. University of Pennsylvania, US — 85.2​ Teaching: 82.0 Research: 86.9 Overall: 85.2 Established before the US even became a sovereign nation, UPenn claims to be the oldest multifaculty university in the country. It also has the nation's oldest student union and first “double-decker” football stand. Noted alumni include President William Henry Harrison as well as modernist writers Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams The 24 best universities in the world 16. University of California at Los Angeles, US — 85.8 Teaching: 80.8 Research: 88.6 Overall: 85.8 UCLA is known for its encouragement of community — undergraduates usually begin with a year-long “Cluster Course,” a team-taught exploration of a demanding topic. It also has a great student-exchange program, with more than 2,400 students going abroad each year The 24 best universities in the world 15. Columbia University, US — 86.1​ Teaching: 85.9 Research: 82.2 Overall: 86.1 Notable alumni of Manhattan-based Columbia include Presidents Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt as well as a founding father — Alexander Hamilton. It also enjoys a massive endowment value of $9.6 billion last year The 24 best universities in the world 14. University College London, UK — 87.1​ Teaching: 78.1 Research: 91.0 Overall: 87.1 Founded in 1826, UCL became the first English university to admit women on equal terms as men in 1878. UCL has one of the biggest postgraduate schemes in the country, at 52% of the entire student body The 24 best universities in the world 13. University of California at Berkeley, US — 87.2​ Teaching: 80.4 Research: 91.1 Overall: 87.2 Dropping five places from last year, Berkeley is still hugely prestigious, and its San Francisco setting makes it a real draw for students looking to study in a vibrant city. It also has a legacy for activism: Some of the best-known Vietnam War protests took place on its campus during the 1960s and 1970s The 24 best universities in the world 12. Yale University, US — 87.4​ Teaching: 86.5 Research: 87.8 Overall: 87.4 The third-oldest higher-education institution in the US, Yale takes its cue from Oxford and Cambridge by having residential colleges. Five American presidents have studied there: William Howard Taft, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. Make that six if Hillary Clinton wins this year's election The 24 best universities in the world 11. Johns Hopkins University, US — 87.6​ Teaching: 77.6 Research: 90.4 Overall: 87.6 Johns Hopkins was an abolitionist, philanthropist, and entrepreneur, and he was also the first benefactor of the school, which was founded in 1876. Based in Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University's notable alumni include Woodrow Wilson, the 28th US president The 24 best universities in the world 10. University of Chicago, US — 87.9​ Teaching: 85.7 Research: 88.9 Overall: 87.9 A leading centre of science, the University of Chicago also has prestigious literary alumni, including Saul Bellow and Susan Sontag. It is also the university where film icon Indiana Jones studied The 24 best universities in the world Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich, Switzerland — 88.3 Teaching: 77.0 Research: 95.0 Overall: 88.3 Jumping four places from 2015, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology is known for its groundbreaking research as well as teaching excellence in natural sciences and technology. Twenty-one Nobel laureates have studied or taught at the university, while about 80 patent applications a year come from there The 24 best universities in the world 8. Imperial College London, UK — 89.1​ Teaching: 83.3 Research: 88.5 Overall: 89.1 Up a place from last year, Imperial is known for its pursuit of science. Its Central London setting also makes it popular to foreign students — 51% of its student body are from overseas. The university's motto is “Scientia imperii decus et tutamen,” which means “Scientific knowledge, the crowning glory and the safeguard of the empire” The 24 best universities in the world 7. Princeton University, US — 90.1​ Teaching: 85.1 Research: 91.9 Overall: 90.1 Princeton is devoted to teaching, offering residential accommodation to undergraduates across all four years of study, which means 98% of them live on campus. The beautiful surroundings are attractive to tourists too: 800,00 people visit the campus each year, bringing in a revenue of $2 billion The 24 best universities in the world 6. Harvard University, US — 91.6​ Teaching: 83.6 Research: 99.0 Overall: 91.6 Down four places from last year, Harvard is still one of the world's most prestigious institutions. It's the oldest university in the US, and it also has one of the largest endowments of any on this list, raising $1.5 billion in 2013 The 24 best universities in the world 5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US — 92.0​ Teaching: 89.4 Research: 88.6 Overall: 92.0 Eighty-five Nobel Laureates have studied at MIT, which was founded in 1861. The university likes to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, and its living alumni have apparently started more than 30,000 active companies Getty The 24 best universities in the world 4. University of Cambridge, UK — 92.8 Teaching: 88.2 Research: 96.7 Overall: 92.8 Up a place from last year, Cambridge isn't quite as old as Oxford University, but with an 800-year history it is still one of the longest-running universities in the world. It has more than 100 libraries, with over 15 million books among them The 24 best universities in the world 3. Stanford University, US — 93.9​ Teaching: 92.5 Research: 98.9 Overall: 93.9 One of the largest campuses in the US, Stanford benefits from being right next to San Francisco's Silicon Valley. President Herbert Hoover was part of Stanford's first class, in 1895, while the first American woman to enter space, Sally Ride, graduated from there in 1973 The 24 best universities in the world 2. University of Oxford, UK — 94.2 Teaching: 86.5 Research: 98.9 Overall: 94.2 Oxford moves up one place from last year to become the best university outside the US. For an institution that was reportedly founded in 1096, that's a remarkable run. It also boasts 30 world leaders among its alumni, including 26 British prime ministers Getty The 24 best universities in the world 1. California Institute of Technology, US — 95.2 Teaching: 95.6 Research: 97.6 Overall: 95.2 The best university in the world for the second year in a row according to the Times, Caltech is at the top in teaching, industry income, research, and citations in 2016. It is renowned for its science and engineering courses, but any degree here is sure to be a winner

3. Maintenance loan

Living in the Netherlands can be somewhat pricey, with a 15-minute train journey costing as much as £5, but the Dutch government offers maintenance loans of up to £880 a month. The catch is that, to claim it, you have to work more than 56 hours per month. But that’s not as difficult as it sounds, because…

4. English

According to the EU, 90 per cent of Dutch people speak English. Asking “do you speak English?” to a Dutch person is like asking “did you go to school?” Reflecting this linguistic proficiency, many undergraduate and most postgraduate courses are taught in English. And the Dutch students don’t seem to find this a problem. In fact, they’ll end up correcting your grammar.

5. Dutch efficiency

To say the Dutch are efficient is an understatement. When you register with a GP, you will be on the system within half an hour. When you register at the town hall, they will send a letter to your landlord because they know who your landlord is. And when I recently took a train to Amsterdam Airport, the driver apologised through the tannoy for arriving two minutes early.

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6. Flexibility

The high premium put on student-teacher interactions means seminars have only around 15 students. Emphasis is placed on practical study, with Maastricht touting its ‘problem-based learning’ method, and courses everywhere involving presentations, role-play, group work, and often internships. The flexible system sometimes allows you to start a master’s in January, and even to take a semester out to go travelling.

7. International

With around 90,000 foreign students each year, Dutch universities have a truly international atmosphere. Most have societies and welcome weeks for foreign students, and Leiden even holds a lecture to help non-Dutch speakers grasp the language. Side note: the Dutch language is impossible, so don’t even bother trying.

8. Dutch-ness

Thankfully, the Netherlands does absolutely nothing to combat its national stereotypes. Within five minutes of arriving at Leiden, I saw a tall blonde man smoking weed, wearing orange, and cycling over a canal towards a windmill. Cheese shops line the high streets, and tulips blanket the ridiculously flat landscape.

9. Cheap flights

If all this Dutch eccentricity makes you homesick, it’s not a long journey back. The hop from Amsterdam to Gatwick takes just 40 minutes and costs around £25. There’s barely time to use the toilet before descending. In contrast, the train from London to Liverpool costs around £30 and takes two-and-a-half hours. Though that’s plenty of time to use the toilet.

If all this talk of efficiency, low fees, and housing benefit has got you dreaming of windmills, then start by checking out Amsterdam, Erasmus, Groningen, Leiden, and Maastricht universities. The application process is about to open, and many universities will have open days coming up pretty soon.

With Brexit looming, and the rights of British overseas students uncertain, make the most of this wonderful opportunity before it’s too late.