VietNamNet Bridge – The new regulations on tuition exemption and reduction are worrying many students. With the new regulations, when waiting for the money to be disbursed, students have to arrange money themselves to feed themselves and pay for their studies.

Under the new regulations, from the 2010-2011 to the 2014-2015 academic years, the students of state-owned schools, who are subject to social policies, will have to pay 100 percent of their tuition at schools, and then will be refunded the money later at the departments of labor, war invalids and social affairs in the localities where they register ho khau (permanent residence registration). Students will receive money twice a year.

More procedures, more difficulties

Huynh Thanh Sang, a second year student of the National Administration Academy in HCM City, feels both glad and worried because he has paid two million dong in tuition. He feels glad because he has money to pay tuition and he will not be expelled from school. But he also feels worried because he still does not know how he can arrange money to pay rent and pay for meals.

Sang comes from a poor family in Chau Thanh district in Dong Thap province, therefore, he enjoys the 50 percent tuition reduction. However, under the new regulations, Sang has to pay 100 percent of tuitions to the school first.

“The school has announced that all students who still owe tuitions to the school have to pay money before Tet, or they will be expelled from school,” Sang said.

“My mother is suffering from heart disease, while my father has been sick for a long time. In order to arrange enough money to fund my study, my parents have to borrow money on the black market. I have to rent a room far from my school, in Binh Tan district, because the rent here is lower than in other districts,” Sang related.

“How can I get enough money to pay for the rent room and my meals?” he questioned.

Mai Hoang Son Lam, a classmate of Sang, who comes from Binh Dinh, also complained that he has to borrow one million dong from the teacher to pay tuition. Besides, Lam has 500,000 dong which he earned from an extra job.

“The regulation that students have to pay tuitions at schools will present big difficulties for students,” Lam said.

Most students who are subject to tuition exemption and reduction have expressed their worries about the new regulation.

“We have to pay tuitions to school and then get money back later from the state budget. Therefore, the poor students, like us, have no other choice than to borrow money or work extra jobs to earn money ourselves,” Lam said.

Le Thi Hong Cong, an Art University student, who comes from Dak Lak also said that as students now have to pay money first and get back later, they will meet more difficulties. “We will have to move heaven and earth to arrange money. Meanwhile, it is not easy to borrow money at all,” she said.

Ton Ngoc Dan from Quang Ngai province, whose son is studying at the HCM City Transport, said that he cannot see any good points of the new policy. “I thought that when my son can enjoy tuition reduction, I will not have to borrow money on the black market any more. However, in fact, I still have to borrow money at high interest rates to pay tuition for my son,” he complained.

Leaders of universities have also admitted that the new regulations will force students to spend more time to pay tuition, while many families will have to borrow money to pay tuition.

However, many schools said they have been trying to apply a flexible policy in order to help students.

Source: Saigon tiep thi