VietNamNet Bridge – A university education could become out of reach of many poor students as many state-owned schools plan to raise tuition.

Studying at state-owned universities is the first choice of most Vietnamese students, because the schools are partly funded by the State and charge tuition at “reasonable levels”.

However, the schools applying the self-control mechanism, under which they make independent decisions about issues including tuition, number of students and training quality.

According to the Ministry of Finance, in the 2014-2015 academic year, the schools applying the self-control mechanism charged VND12 million tuition on average, while the figure could rise to VND16.5 million next year.

HCM City Economics University, which collected VND13 million in 2014-2015, has announced new tuition levels of VND14.5 million and VND16.5 million for the next two years.

Meanwhile, the Hanoi University of Foreign Trade set tuition at VND9 million in 2014-2015 and VND11-12 million in the 2015-2016 academic year.

The other universities, which did not join the pilot autonomy program, have been following a plan on raising tuition as stipulated by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET).

Under MOET’s decision, students in social sciences, economics, law, aquaculture and forestry have to pay VND550,000 a month for the 2014-2015 academic year. The students following natural science, technology, sports, arts, tourism and hotel studies had to pay VND650,000. Medical and pharmaceutical students bear the highest tuition of VND800,000.

The information about the tuition increase plans drawn up by schools has worried students.

Khanh Nam from Ba Vi district in the suburbs of Hanoi, a third year student at an arts school, complained that tuition has been increasing steadily.

The tuition Nam has to pay for the ongoing academic year is over VND6 million, or VND1 million higher than the year before.

“Everything is getting more and more expensive,” he said. “I have to spend over VND3 million a month on basic needs. I also have to pay tuition as well.”

Nam said that his mother had to borrow money from relatives to fund his study, and he fears he will be deep in debt after he finishes school.

“I don’t know if I can find a good job to make money for debt payment,” he said.

Thanh Nga, a second year student of the Banking Academy, noted that the current tuition is already high.

“We have been told that tuition in Vietnam is much lower than in other countries. However, the tuition must be calculated in accordance with the low income of Vietnamese,” she said.

Thanh Lich