The starting points between Europe and USA may be different, but the methodology to contain reactions is the same: The boiling frog method [1], and playing the

The starting points between Europe and USA may be different, but the methodology to contain reactions is the same: The boiling frog method [1], and playing the long game. If the introduced change is subtle enough, only people directly affected will protest. In this case, students did protest for years, and they still do. But because the change is so subtle, it is easy to convincingly brand anyone protesting as unreasonable/reactionary/self-entitled/spoiled. E.g. "Do you complain about paying 20EUR/month for your DUO [2] loan, all while you can even skip payments with no repercussions when unemployed? An entitled lazy brat you are!". Then, several years later, you can stage an audit on DUO to find out that it's "bleeding money". Now you have a free rein to shut it down and let the private sector to hand the student loans. All to save taxpayers' money, of course! [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog [2] https://duo.nl/particulier/international-visitor/ https://duo.nl/particulier/international-visitor/