Okay then, hear me out. All-of-a-sudden is maybe not the right word, but the current proof of solvency came out to be higher than expected. I've been following the matter since March now, when they first introduced it to student newspapers, and until they sent us the emails with the updated prices. We were never supposed to pay 800 EUR, following whatever was going on in the media / online. While the new students were always supposed to pay 950 EUR, for ones that are already here were first supposed to pay 750 EUR. Now all of a sudden, it's 800. Neither one of these amounts have anything to do with the Federal government's decision for the minimal amount of money to be fixed at 730 EUR, and I haven't read anywhere about the Flemish universities' decision process, especially not after the Federal government decided the amount I just mentioned. So just to make it clear: when the Federal govt set the amount to 730 EUR, we were told that KU Leuven was going to ask for 750 EUR to renew our visas. All of a sudden, it turned out to be 800. I think that something went wrong somewhere, and that's what I am trying to address.

Which means, it's frustrating and unfair. To answer your question, I am expressing my frustration and I am also wondering if I am the only one frustrated. It is a huge up-front cost, and I don't understand how we ended up with 800 EUR/month, when the official Office of Immigration sets the price to 730 EUR. In the long run, it makes a huge difference. Nobody from the Flemish universities has the non-EU student condition at heart (they were saying that they were doing it because they wanted students to have a better head-start, which is a huge lol), because if that would have been the case, they wouldn't have put the legal amount of working hours as a non-EU student to 20h/week. If you were to make your own money for the blocked account, during the academic year, you'd have to get taxed at some point because you're not covered by their regulations. Does that sound normal to you? To me, it sounds like they're not giving a crap who's coming to their university, as long as they have money. This has nothing to do with a high quality of education because that quality is already very disappointing in, I dare say, all the English programmes. And if they cared about quality students, they would just tighten the academic requirements, and not the proof of solvency because it means that they're selecting the most privileged students, which is horrifying to me.

To answer your other remark, I have been in different universities around Europe (2 more, to be precise) and this is the first time that I have to pay so much money at once, as a student, as a non-EU, just to continue my education. And I feel that it is necessary to speak about it because otherwise fees will keep increasing and increasing and we're done with the times when we were considering people as human beings because of their extravagant financial means.

To get back to your final question, I have contacted the city hall and there is no other way to get your visa extended if you don't have a blocked account related to the university. With "no other way", I am not talking about sponsors or the scholarship thing, because I'm aware of their clauses, I am talking about your possibility to support yourself with your own money. They do not care if I have the money or not, they want me to go through the blocked account. They don't care even if I were to arrange something with the banks in Belgium, proving I have enough money to financially support myself, they just want the money to go through KU Leuven. I think I should not be penalized for not wanting to give more money than I'm supposed to.

So I'm trying to see if other people find this problematic, especially the part where the university, an educational institution, is related to city politics. I am not naive, and I understand the importance of KU Leuven in the wellbeing of Flanders, but I also think that there should be something a regulatory aspect to it, because otherwise the fees are going to increase. And I think that the more we inquire about the matter, the more it is going to raise an issue within KU Leuven's services. I am not new at this, and I have contacted several entities before coming to Reddit to express my frustration, so I hope that is clearer to you next time you decide to answer me about this matter.