Many universities do not increase tuition fees

Last week, the Government issued Decree 97, amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 81 on public tuition fees. Accordingly, the roadmap for increasing university tuition fees will be delayed by one year.

Specifically, the tuition ceiling at public universities that are not self-sufficient in regular expenses this school year is 12-24.5 million VND/year, depending on the major, instead of 13.5-27.6 million as in Decree 81. The current collection rate is 9.8-14.3 million VND.

Autonomous schools (paying their own salaries, allowances, repairing facilities, etc.) can collect up to 2.5 times the above rate. With quality-accredited training programs, universities can determine their own tuition fees.

Representatives of many schools said that although the current tuition fees are lower than the ceiling, they will not charge more. Because at the end of the year, increasing tuition fees can put more pressure on parents and students.

At the National Economics University, tuition fees currently range from VND10.5-35 million per year for the standard program. The school plans to keep this level stable this year and next, while according to Decree 97, the school is allowed to collect VND24-61 million, nearly double the current amount, because it is completely autonomous.

"I think universities need to fulfill their social responsibilities and share with students in the midst of economic difficulties," said Professor Pham Hong Chuong, Principal of the National Economics University.

The second reason is that when enrolling students last year, the school announced tuition fees and committed not to increase them this year, so it is difficult to collect more, according to Associate Professor Nguyen Xuan Hoan, Chairman of the Council of Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade.

Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport also kept the current tuition fee of 10.6-23.1 million VND per year as announced and has remained stable for four consecutive years.

In addition, some schools have increased tuition fees since the beginning of the year, according to the ceiling of the old decree, which is close to the new level so there is no need to adjust it anymore.

However, according to Dr. Phan Hong Hai, Chairman of the Council of Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, from the next school year, tuition fees will be adjusted, but not considered to increase sharply. Some schools have similar plans, such as Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport, and Mining and Geology.

Of which, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade is expected to increase by about 5%, to nearly 25 million VND per year, lower than the ceiling for fully autonomous schools. Tuition for the University of Mining and Geology is expected to increase to 12.5-14.5 million VND, about 2 million lower than the ceiling.

Mr. Le Xuan Thanh, Head of the Student Political Affairs Department, University of Mining and Geology, said that the tuition fee increase will help improve many benefits for students. Because the value of scholarships, loan amounts and many other support packages are all calculated based on tuition fees.

In addition, according to Dr. Quach Thanh Hai, Head of the Postgraduate Training Department, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education, when tuition fees increase, schools have resources to invest in facilities, practice rooms, research, and increase salaries for lecturers. For scholarships and student support alone, this year the school has set aside 50 billion VND, nearly double that of previous years.

The schools said they will carefully consider the increase to suit the economic context, while improving training quality as well as scholarship policies, student support and early communication so that families can prepare financially.

Tuition fees for non-autonomous public universities from the 2023-2024 to 2026-2027 academic year (unit: thousand VND/month) are as follows: