Tuition fees unexpectedly increase, students express outrage.

Students at Nha Trang University and Hai Duong Medical and Pharmaceutical Technology University are upset after unexpectedly receiving notification of new tuition fees, which have increased by approximately 20-30% compared to the previous rates.

Van Thanh is a third-year student majoring in Finance and Banking at Nha Trang University . Since the end of September, he had paid 6.2 million VND in tuition fees. On the evening of October 2nd, news of the university's sudden tuition increase caused a stir on online forums. When Thanh checked his student account, he was shocked to see a notification that he had to pay 8 million VND for the first semester. He still owed 2 million VND, and the deadline for payment was October 10th.

Thanh calculated that the price per credit increased by about 30%. What angered her most was that the school increased tuition fees without notifying or explaining anything to students. As of yesterday, the school still hadn't issued any official announcement, other than extending the tuition payment deadline to October 10th.

"Because of my financial situation, I chose to study here. Suddenly needing 2 million VND, I don't know where to get the money or how to explain it to my family, especially since I asked for money to pay for the first semester's tuition the day before," Thanh said.

Phuong Nga, a third-year student in the high-quality Accounting program, faced a similar situation. At the beginning of September, the system displayed tuition fees for the first semester at approximately 13 million VND for 9 subjects (22 credits). Nga had already paid 6.8 million VND upfront. By October 3rd, the new tuition fee displayed was nearly 19 million VND.

"I don't understand why there's been this increase; the school didn't give any prior notice. There's only a week left until the tuition deadline, how are students supposed to manage to pay in time?" Nga said angrily.

Phuong Nga's tuition fee was announced on the morning of October 3rd. Photo: Provided by the subject.

Similarly, at Hai Duong Medical Technical University , many students are also upset about the unexpected increase in tuition fees.

Having enrolled on September 6th, Ha Linh, a new student in the Medical Imaging Technology program, paid nearly 10 million VND, of which 8 million VND was provisional tuition. According to the admissions plan published in April, the monthly tuition for this program was 2.09 million VND. However, on September 24th, the school announced that the tuition for the first semester would be 2.59 million VND per month. Linh stated that this represents an increase of nearly 300,000 VND per credit.

"The tuition fees have increased sharply, and the school announced it too late, which is very frustrating for us. We've already paid tens of millions of dong, and if we drop out, we'll lose it, but if we continue studying, we don't know if we can make it because the tuition increase has led to increases in many other things," Linh said.

According to the school's plan, tuition fees for students admitted this year to the Medical program are expected to be 2.76 million VND per month. For other programs, it's 2.09 million VND. However, the latest announcement from the school clarifies that the tuition fee for the first semester is 3.43 million VND for the Medical program, 2.09 million VND for Nursing, and 2.59 million VND for other programs.

The Quang, a medical student, believes the university is putting new students in a dilemma. "The university should have announced the tuition fees before students registered their preferences for university admission, because tuition fees are also one of the criteria for selection," Quang said.

Tuition fees for previous courses at this school have also increased. Thanh Mai, a final-year student majoring in Medical Laboratory Technology, said that tuition fees "suddenly" increased from about 405,000 VND per credit to 524,000 VND, meaning an increase of about 2 million VND per semester.

"I asked my family for money to pay the old rate. My parents had to scramble to make ends meet. And yet, the school only just announced the new rate now," Mai shared.

Campus of Hai Duong Medical Technical University. Photo: University's fanpage .

Speaking to VnExpress on the afternoon of October 3rd, Dr. Pham Hong Manh, Head of the Planning and Finance Department at Nha Trang University, said that the university has just decided to temporarily collect tuition fees according to the roadmap proposed by the Ministry to the Government, meaning applying the tuition fee framework for the 2022-2023 academic year to this academic year instead of the 2023-2024 framework as stipulated in Decree 81.

Specifically, the price per credit for general courses is 280,000 VND. For foundational and specialized courses, the price ranges from 330,000-390,000 VND per credit for final-year students, and 340,000-450,000 VND for other students. For some accredited programs, the price per credit for specialized courses is 440,000-490,000 VND.

Explaining why the tuition fees shown in students' accounts in September were lower, causing many students who had already paid in full to now be short of fees, Mr. Mạnh said that the system automatically updated to last year's rate and the school had not yet announced it.

"Many students base their payments on this amount and pay by bank transfer," Mr. Manh said, adding that the school will extend the payment deadline to November 22nd instead of October 10th as announced on the system. He added that the new amount is still a provisional fee. The official tuition fee will be announced after the Ministry of Education and Training provides guidance on this year's fee levels.

For Hai Duong Medical Technical University, tuition fees have increased because the university has become financially self-sufficient and has had its state budget cut since June. However, the enrollment plan was released in April. The university only stated that it had carefully considered the new tuition fee levels.

According to Decree 81 of 2021 on public school tuition fees, the tuition fee ceiling for medical and pharmaceutical majors in non-autonomous universities is 2.09-2.76 million VND per month, exactly as proposed by Hai Duong Medical Technical University in its proposal. Universities that have ensured regular operating expenses can collect a maximum of 4.18-5.52 million VND. However, the Ministry of Education and Training has submitted a draft amendment to this decree with a lower ceiling.

Currently, the government has not yet issued a revised decree. Some universities, such as the Foreign Trade University and the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, are collecting tuition fees similar to last year while awaiting the new regulations. Others, such as Hanoi Law University, are collecting fees in accordance with Decree 81 and have stated they will refund the difference if the revised decree proposes lower rates. The majority of private universities, unaffected by Decree 81, have increased tuition fees, commonly by 5-10%.

Duong Tam - Le Nguyen

*Student's name has been changed

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