Recently, voters in An Giang province submitted a petition to the Ministry of Education and Training requesting that "tuition fees for university education not be increased to alleviate the financial burden on families with limited resources , thereby creating opportunities for students to focus on their studies."

In response to this, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son cited Government Decree 81/2021, which regulates tuition fees for educational institutions within the national education system and policies on tuition fee exemption and reduction, and support for learning costs.

This includes regulations on the annual adjustment of tuition fees to ensure that the pricing of education and training services is in line with the spirit of Resolution 19/2017 of the Central Committee on continuing to innovate the efficiency of public non-business units.

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Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son. Photo: Hoang Ha

Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and in order to control inflation and share the difficulties with parents and students, the Government has requested ministries, sectors, and localities to direct educational and training institutions under their management to maintain stable tuition fees for the 2022-2023 school year at the same level as the 2021-2022 school year.

Therefore, tuition fees at public educational institutions have remained stable over the past three academic years (2020-2021 to 2022-2023). These fees are very low, only covering 40-50% of training costs; the remaining portion still needs to be subsidized by the state budget.

However, the Minister stated that, despite tuition fees not increasing, the state budget cuts recurrent expenditures by 2.5% annually, creating difficulties for higher education institutions.

If tuition fees remain stable and recurrent expenditures continue to be cut, many educational institutions will lack sufficient operating funds, and will be unable to implement the service pricing roadmap as stipulated in Resolution 19.

Therefore, starting from the 2023-2024 academic year, the Government issued Decree 97/2023 amending and supplementing some articles of Decree 81/2021, stipulating that tuition fees for public universities that are not self-sufficient in covering recurrent expenditures will be implemented according to the tuition fee ceiling for the 2023-2024 academic year.

The policies on tuition fee exemption and reduction, and support for learning costs for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, policy-eligible students, ethnic minority students, and students from mountainous and island regions, as stipulated in Decree 81/2021, continue to be implemented to alleviate the financial burden on students and their families.

The Minister affirmed that in the coming period, he will coordinate with relevant agencies to gather feedback during the implementation process in order to propose amendments to Decree 81/2021, which stipulates a suitable tuition fee roadmap, ensuring the implementation of the pricing roadmap for public service activities in the social sector and the implementation of social security.

According to Decree 97/2023, the tuition fee ceiling (the highest amount that can be collected) at public universities that are not yet self-sufficient in covering their operating expenses this academic year is 1.2-2.45 million VND/month.

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

Sector 2023-2024 2024-2025 2025-2026 2026-2027
Sector I: Educational Sciences and Teacher Training 1,250 1,410 1,590 1,790
Group II: Arts 1,200 1,350 1,520 1,710
Group III: Business and Management, Law 1,250 1,410 1,590 1,790
Group IV: Life Sciences, Natural Sciences 1,350 1,520 1,710 1,930
Group V: Mathematics, Computer Statistics, Information Technology, Engineering Technology, Engineering, Manufacturing and Processing, Architecture and Construction, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Veterinary Medicine 1,450 1,640 1,850 2,090
Sector VI.1: Other health-related fields 1,850 2,090 2,360 2,660
Sector VI.2: Medicine and Pharmacy 2,450 2,760 3,110 3,500
Sector VII: Humanities, social and behavioral sciences, journalism and information, social services, tourism, hospitality, sports, transportation services, environment and environmental protection. 1,200 1,500 1,690 1,910

Hanoi charges the highest tuition fee for public schools at 6.1 million VND/month.

Hanoi charges the highest tuition fee for public schools at 6.1 million VND/month.

According to a resolution recently passed by the Hanoi City People's Council, Phan Huy Chu High School in Dong Da District (a high-quality school) charges the highest tuition fee among public schools in Hanoi, at 6.1 million VND per month.
Tuition fees at public universities are exorbitant, with many schools charging hundreds of millions of Vietnamese dong per year.

Tuition fees at public universities are exorbitant, with many schools charging hundreds of millions of Vietnamese dong per year.

Many public universities have announced tuition fees for the 2024-2025 academic year, with fees reaching hundreds of millions of VND per year.
The government has finalized adjustments to the university tuition fee increase schedule.

The government has finalized adjustments to the university tuition fee increase schedule.

The government has just issued a Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 81/2021 on the mechanism for collecting and managing tuition fees and policies on tuition fee exemption and reduction to support learning costs...