Ms. Tran Thi Le (40 years old, Hung Yen ) has a daughter who just graduated from grade 12, achieving more than 24 points in the D01 admission combination (Math, Literature, English), a score that is enough to be admitted to many top public universities. However, her daughter is one of more than 310,000 candidates this year who "refused to go to university", just because of financial problems.
“If my child studies in Hanoi , we will have to spend about 10 million VND per month for accommodation, food, transportation and tuition. At least a hundred million VND per year - an amount beyond my husband and I,” said Ms. Le, adding that her husband’s income from several fields of rice and his construction work is not enough to cover the cost of hundreds of millions per year.
The couple had many sleepless nights, facing a difficult decision, when they were forced to advise their son to temporarily put aside his dream of going to university to study Japanese, planning to go to Japan to work as an export laborer as recommended by an acquaintance.
"Understanding the difficulties the family is facing, my child nodded in agreement with his parents' decision, even though I knew he was very sad inside. I felt both sorry and remorseful for not being able to give him a full education as promised," the female parent choked up.
Many universities increase tuition fees for the 2025-2026 school year. (Illustration photo)
That decision was not easy for Ms. Le, because every parent wants their children to receive a formal education right after graduating from high school. However, for many rural families like hers, economic reality forces them to choose a roundabout way: Let their children become financially independent early, accumulate life experience, and then when conditions allow, they can still return to school to continue their dreams.
The family of Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh (43 years old, Ninh Binh) is in a similar situation. She said that a few days before her son registered his application, the family still thought "just pass and then think about it". The closer the announcement date of the admission score was, Ms. Thanh became more worried because she could not find a way out of the financial problem.
Both she and her husband are factory workers with low incomes. Her husband has just gone through a long illness and has not been able to return to work. The savings are not much, and the cost of studying away from home for a student is getting more and more expensive.
“A month costs about 8-10 million VND, including tuition and living expenses. Four years of university probably cost several hundred million, not to mention if the child studies a major with a lot of practice, books and materials will also be more expensive. My husband and I are factory workers, the combined income of the two of us is less than 15 million VND, we have a hard time spending for the whole family, where can we get money for our child to study?”, Ms. Thanh choked up.
What makes Ms. Thanh most hesitant is not only the cost of studying, but also the uncertainty after graduation. "I know many children who finish school still go to work as factory workers. Meanwhile, children from well-off families are invested in learning more skills and foreign languages, then they have good opportunities. My family cannot provide that," the parent shared with a heavy heart.
For many years, Ms. Thanh has always encouraged her son to study hard to escape the hardships of his parents. She never thought she would have to tell him to give up his dream of going to university. However, with the news of school tuition fees constantly increasing, she realized that it could completely become a reality.
Many families worry when investing in their children's college education. (Illustration photo)
Faced with the reality that many universities are simultaneously increasing tuition fees, Dr. Le Viet Khuyen, Vice President of the Association of Vietnamese Universities and Colleges, said that this could unintentionally eliminate capable students who do not have the financial means to study.
According to Mr. Khuyen, upgrading facilities and improving training quality are necessary, but along with that, tuition fees also need to be calculated in accordance with the financial capacity of learners. “We cannot just look at university tuition fees abroad and then apply them mechanically to Vietnam, but must base it on the average income per capita in the country, which is still low compared to many countries in the region, ” Mr. Khuyen emphasized.
He proposed that the Ministry of Education and Training should coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to conduct a comprehensive review, thereby determining a reasonable and sustainable tuition roadmap. For training institutions, according to Dr. Khuyen, it is necessary to continue to diversify sources of scholarship funds, study encouragement funds and student loan channels, and at the same time have policies to exempt and reduce tuition fees for students who are policy beneficiaries and have difficult circumstances. This is not only a social responsibility but also a factor contributing to expanding learning opportunities for disadvantaged groups.
“Schools cannot use the excuse of autonomy or improving training quality to ‘draw’ various costs and then impose excessively high tuition fees. If tuition fees are not suitable for people’s income levels, children from poor families will find it increasingly difficult to access university,” Dr. Khuyen warned.
In the 2025-2026 school year, many universities plan to increase tuition fees for standard programs. The maximum increase roadmap proposed by schools is mainly from 10-15% for each year.
The National Economics University estimates that tuition fees for students enrolling in the 2025-2026 school year will be 18-25 million VND for the standard program, an increase of 2-3 million VND compared to last year. According to the school's tuition increase schedule for each year, the increase each year is 10%.
Tuition fees at the Banking Academy are expected to be around VND26.5-28 million per year for the standard program and VND40 million for the high-quality program, an increase of VND1.5-3 million compared to last year. The school said the increase would not exceed 15% per academic year.
Meanwhile, candidates entering the Dentistry major at Phenika University will have to pay the highest increase, from 96 million last year to 128 million this year.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/hoc-phi-tang-cha-me-nghen-ngao-khuyen-con-tam-gac-giac-mo-dai-hoc-ar958467.html
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