Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education is facing student backlash over its new tuition fee – a 20% increase compared to before.
During the orientation session for new students in early September, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education announced that the tuition fee for the standard program for new students ranges from 13 to 16.25 million VND per semester.
For previous courses, tuition fees ranged from 693,000 to 827,000 VND per credit. In contrast, last year's tuition was approximately 555,000 to 652,000 VND per credit.
Upon hearing the news, many students expressed their outrage, leaving comments on the school's official fan page and social media forums.
Thanh Phong, a second-year student, said that the tuition fee per credit for engineering majors has increased by about 20% compared to last year. According to the student, this is an excessively high increase and differs from the school's commitments made during the admissions counseling.
"One of the criteria for choosing a school is affordable tuition fees. Previously, the school committed to not increasing tuition by more than 10%, but now it's increasing uncontrollably. How can struggling students afford it?" Phong said.
Thu Huong, a freshman in the Industrial Management program at the university, was also surprised by the tuition fees. She said she hadn't seen the admissions plan but had found out about the tuition fees through counseling channels and from current students at the university.
"I thought that even if tuition fees increased, it would only be by about 10%, so I calculated the tuition fees at that time and adjusted them myself. I only registered for the school when I felt it was within my family's budget . I didn't expect the tuition fees to increase so drastically," Huong shared.
Tuition fees for the standard program at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education in 2023-2024. Photo: Screenshot
In response to VnExpress on September 13th, a representative from the school stated that they will hold a dialogue with students regarding tuition fees on September 16th.
According to him, the tuition fees for the 2023 intake have been announced in the admissions plan. For previous intakes, the above tuition fees are only temporary. The school has not yet collected fees because it is awaiting the conclusion of the Government and guidance from the Ministry of Education and Training . For the high-quality program, the school maintains the old fee of 28-46 million VND per year, as committed.
This official stated that the school is fully autonomous (covering both operating and investment expenses) and will comply with regulations if tuition fees are increased. He explained that the current cost of training an engineering student is 29 million VND per year. For economics students, this cost is approximately 26 million VND. Therefore, the tuition fee charged to new students is equivalent to the cost of training.
"In previous years, the school charged low tuition fees because it hadn't yet developed an economic and technical cost estimate. Now, the school has determined the training costs for each student in each field, so it has to charge the correct amount to cover expenses," he said.
The school representative also added that after two or three years without increasing tuition fees, the school faced many difficulties in investing in and upgrading teaching equipment, laboratories, workshops, and operating costs. The school employed various methods, from soliciting support to mobilizing resources from businesses, to equip laboratories, workshops, and classrooms with air conditioning.
"In the engineering field in general, the tuition fees at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education are still lower than other universities. Students must also understand that university is an opportunity, and university tuition fees are an investment in the future," he said.
Ho Chi Minh City University of Education announced plans to allocate tens of billions of VND to support disadvantaged students and provide scholarships to encourage academic achievement.
Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education. Photo: Manh Tung
In late August, the Ministry of Education and Training announced that it had submitted to the Government a draft amendment and supplement to several articles of Decree 81 on tuition fees.
According to the draft, tuition fees for preschool, primary, and university education in the 2023-2024 academic year will be at the ceiling level of the 2022-2023 academic year, a one-year delay compared to the tuition fee increase schedule outlined in Decree 81.
If this proposal is approved, it will set a tuition fee ceiling for public universities. The current fee for the next academic year, which is not yet self-sufficient in covering recurrent expenses, is 1.2-2.45 million VND per month, depending on the field of study, instead of 1.35-2.76 million VND. The current fee is 980,000 to 1.43 million VND per month.
Universities that have achieved autonomy (paying their own salaries, allowances, and facility repairs, etc.) are allowed to charge up to 2-2.5 times the above amount, depending on the level of autonomy, i.e., 2.4-6.15 million VND per month. For programs that have received quality accreditation, universities are free to determine their own tuition fees.
Le Nguyen
* Student's name has been changed
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