AISVN International School is facing financial difficulties, putting many students at risk of disrupting their studies - Photo: AISVN
Tuition is easy to pay, but asking for it… is not certain.
"Education investment" packages or "education finance" programs are now being offered to many parents who intend to send their children to international schools.
This form has some potential risks. Typically, the current scandal at the American International School Vietnam (AISVN) is partly related to "education investment" packages.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, AISVN launched many "education investment" packages. Accordingly, when parents paid in advance from 3 to 5 billion VND depending on the program, their children would study for free throughout their time at the school. When the program was completed and the agreed time period - which could be 5, 7 or 12 years - parents would be refunded 100% of the amount paid.
Ms. P. - whose child studied at AISVN - believes that if the school has a clear plan to use this money for reinvestment or strictly manages finances, educational financial packages are beneficial for both parties. On the contrary, in the case of unbalanced fluctuations in the school's finances, the risk lies with the parents.
Ms. P. said that in 2022 and 2023, she had to go back and forth many times to ask for the refund of nearly 5 billion VND that she had paid for her child at AISVN because her child went abroad to study. She said that the school representative made many appointments with her, citing financial difficulties.
"Luckily for me, in mid-2023, I found another parent who wanted to enroll and agreed to transfer my tuition package," said Ms. P.
Also in 2023, AISVN School has removed the 100% tuition refund clause in a new tuition program. With this new package, parents will pay 2.5 billion VND, and their children will study in full until they graduate from grade 12, regardless of which grade they are in. In the case of high school students, the school will have a separate preferential tuition package.
Many international school "investment packages"
Many other international schools also have "education investment" programs. For example, the South American International School (UTS) has an investment package worth 2 billion VND for the English program according to the Common Core (US) standard and 2.75 billion VND for the Oxford English program.
According to the school, with the one-time investment package, families will receive 100% of tuition fees back after students complete the high school program at UTS and parents will not have to worry about tuition fees for the entire 12 years of study.
The ICS School System applies an educational investment program for the 2023-2024 school year, investing for 9 years to refund up to 80% of tuition fees. Specifically, parents will pay 100% of tuition fees for 9 years of study, including 5 years of primary school and 4 years of secondary school, in the first year of study.
For example, with the Oxford international curriculum integration roadmap, parents will pay more than 1.2 billion VND (specifically 1,273,300,000 VND) for tuition fees throughout 9 years (grades 1-9). Parents are committed to refunding 80% of the tuition fees after their children complete 9 years of study, which is more than 1 billion VND (specifically 1,018,640,000 VND).
Meanwhile, some international schools "launch" discount policies for parents who pay long-term, for example, if parents pay 2 years in advance, they get a 20% discount, if they pay 3-4 years in advance, they get a 30-40% discount, if they pay 5-12 years in advance, they get a 50% discount...
Need control mechanism
Right before the incident at AISVN International School, in August 2023, Green Shoots International School in Hoi An City, Quang Nam suddenly announced its closure. Many parents said they had paid "educational investment" packages for their children totaling more than 14 billion VND when suddenly the school "evaporated", the school owner took the tuition fees back to Vietnam.
Although not an international school, the incident at Apax Leaders English Center is also a form of paying tuition in advance, with a value that can reach hundreds of millions of VND for many years of study. When many Apax Leaders centers dissolved, parents had a hard time getting back the money they had paid.
According to statistics from independent education expert Bui Khanh Nguyen, there are at least 10 international and bilingual schools offering "education investment" packages for parents to pay tuition fees for 3 years, 5 years, or even 12 or 15 years in advance. In return, parents receive lower tuition fees than paying each year, which can be reduced by 20%, 40% or more.
There are investment packages that are like "loans" from parents. Specifically, parents pay the school a sum of money for 12 years, during which time the students can study for free, after 12 years the school will refund the entire amount paid. It is called an investment because from a financial perspective, the interest has been used to pay for the students' tuition.
The former principal of an international school in District 7 (HCMC) raised a problem: suppose an international school has 1,000 students. About 1/5 of the parents, or 200 people, participate in this investment package, each package costs an average of about 5 billion VND. Thus, the total amount of money this international school has raised has reached 1,000 billion VND.
"This is clearly a large amount of money, so there needs to be a mechanism to prevent private schools from taking advantage of or using the raised money for the wrong purposes," he said.
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