Some people-founded universities and junior colleges have been trying to lure learners by declaring low tuition, but then collect more than declared. A lot of students have been on the horns of a dilemma, because they don’t have money to continue study.
Students of the Bach Viet Junior College were exceedingly astonished when registering study subjects for the second semester. HT, a first year student, said that the college announced on the book “Things to know about school enrollment in 2011” it collects 180,000-220,000 per credit. When HT started school, the officers here said told him that it would cost 7 or 8 million dong for every school year.
However, according to him, the school collected 5.5 million dong already in the first semester, while he has been requested to pay 7.4 million dong more.
“My parents in the home village do the field work and cannot afford my tuition. Therefore, I have to work to earn money to pay for my study. I do not know how much more time I can follow my study, if the tuition keep rising,” he complained.
“Some of my friends have quit the school after they were requested to pay too much money,” he added.
Like Bach Viet, many other schools used some tricks to attract learners by declaring low tuition. Students only realized that they were cheated after they started school.
The HCM City University of Technology (Hutech) declared the tuition at VND4.95 million - VND6.45 million per semester. However, in fact, it collected VND6.2 – VND6.57 million (USD296.9-USD314.65) for the first semester from the junior college (3-year) training students, and VND6.54 million - VND6.93 million from university training students.
A consultancy officer of the school admitted that in general, the school only declares the lowest tuition.
The Hong Bang International University announced that the average tuition is 8,980,000 dong per annum, except three majors which have the tuition between VND13 million and VND15 million. However, in fact, except the three majors which have the same tuition levels as announced, the real tuition students have to pay are VND9-11 million.
The Van Hien University declared the tuition at VND3.3-3.7 million per semester for university training and 3.2-3.4 million dong per semester for junior college training. However, students have to pay 5 million dong per semester for information technology, electronics technique and communication, and 4.5 million dong for other majors.
Tran Manh Thanh, Deputy President of the Bach Viet Junior College, when asked about the high tuitions, said that Bach Viet is a private school, therefore the tuitions are negotiable. He also affirmed that the school does not collect tuition in a wrong way.
He said that students have to pay more money because they have registered too many credits. There are 110 credits for a training course, while some students have registered up to 55 credits right for the first school year.
“The school organized a meeting where officers showed students the way to register study subjects. However, many students did not attend the meeting,” he said.
It is true that some students have registered too many subjects, which has led to the higher tuition. However, in fact, the tuition per credit set up by the school is higher than the previously announced level.
Instead of collecting VND180,000-220,000 per credit, the school collected VND300,000-400,000. Especially, the students who registered to study basic English, have to pay VND500,000 per credit
Nguyen Quoc Anh from Hutech said that the school raises the tuition by 10 percent very year, and it always inform about the increase to students in advance.
However, in fact, the students of the school said they have to accept the 40 percent tuition increase, not 10 percent as they were informed.
