From 2024, which students will be exempted or have their tuition fees reduced according to the new regulations?

The Government has just issued Decree 97 amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 81 on the mechanism for collecting and managing tuition fees for educational institutions in the national education system and policies on tuition exemption, reduction, and support for learning costs.

19 groups of students are exempted or have their tuition fees reduced.

Decree No. 97 adjusts the tuition fee roadmap as follows: Stabilize tuition fees from the 2023-2024 school year for preschool and general education at the same level as the 2021-2022 school year.

The tuition fee schedule for public higher education and vocational education is delayed by 1 year compared to the regulations in Decree 81. That is, the tuition fee for the 2023-2024 school year will increase compared to the tuition fee for the 2022-2023 school year, but the increase will be lower than the schedule prescribed in Decree 81 to suit practical conditions and reduce difficulties for students.

For high school level, 19 groups of students are given priority for tuition exemption and reduction, including:

Tuition is free for all public primary school students and 5-year-old preschool children in extremely disadvantaged villages/hamlets, communes in Region III, ethnic minority areas, mountainous areas, coastal areas, and islands.

Secondary school students in extremely disadvantaged villages/hamlets, communes in Region III, ethnic minority areas, mountainous areas, coastal areas, and islands are also exempted from tuition fees.

Regarding the tuition reduction policy, the decree stipulates a 70% reduction in tuition fees for 3-4 year old children, middle school and high school students who are ethnic minorities in extremely disadvantaged villages/hamlets, communes in Region III ethnic minority areas, mountainous areas, coastal areas, and islands.

The Decree also stipulates a 50% reduction in tuition fees for 3-4 year old children, middle school and high school students from near-poor households.

The Decree stipulates support of 150,000 VND/student/month (equivalent to 1,350 million VND/year) to purchase books and school supplies for students in the following cases: orphans; disabled; from poor households; in particularly difficult villages/hamlets, communes in Region III of ethnic minority mountainous areas, coastal areas, and islands.

Which majors are tuition-free?

The Decree stipulates tuition exemption for disabled students, ethnic minority students from poor and near-poor households according to the Prime Minister's regulations.

Tuition-free majors include: Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought, Tuberculosis, Leprosy, Psychiatry, Forensic Examination, Forensic Psychiatry, Pathology at medical personnel training facilities according to State-ordered quotas.

The Decree stipulates a 70% reduction in tuition fees for students studying traditional and specialized arts, and certain arduous, toxic, and dangerous occupations.

The Government also requested the Ministry of Education and Training to continue reviewing and ensuring policies on tuition exemption and reduction for policy beneficiaries and students in difficult circumstances to ensure equal access to vocational education and higher education; universal education policies and streaming at the general education level.