Students complain that defense education tuition is too high. What does Ho Chi Minh City University of Law say?

Ho Chi Minh City University of Law

PHOTO: HA ANH

Today (March 27), reflecting to Thanh Nien Newspaper, some students of the 49th class of Ho Chi Minh City University of Law said that the tuition fee for the national defense and security education subject of the school is too high compared to other schools.

This student said: "Ho Chi Minh City University of Law charges 11 million VND for military semester for 11 credits of national defense and security education. But as far as I know, this subject is taught according to the program of the National Defense and Security Education Center and is calculated by credits at the center. But why does the school take the unit price of 1 credit of the training school, which is 1,020,000 VND, and multiply it by the number of credits to collect tuition for this subject like that?"

Another student commented: "The school needs to explain where the 11,220,000 VND comes from and why it has paid 30 million VND since the beginning of the year and now has to pay another 11 million, which is more than 40 million VND. While the school has a 4-year tuition schedule, the first year is only 35 million VND?"

"Because of the school's tuition calculation"

By this afternoon, Ho Chi Minh City University of Law had information on the above issue. Master Le Van Hien, Deputy Head of the Department of University Training, said that Ho Chi Minh City University of Law is a unit that ensures its own regular and investment expenses, is given financial autonomy, and the school and its university training programs have been quality-assessed. Therefore, according to the provisions of Decree No. 97/2023/ND-CP dated December 31, 2023 of the Government on determining tuition fees, the school is allowed to determine the tuition fees of training programs based on economic and technical norms as prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training, and publicly explain to learners and society.

Accordingly, the school is implementing the regulations of the School Council according to the tuition fee collection roadmap from the 2024-2025 school year to the 2026-2027 school year. This tuition fee has been made public by the school on the school's electronic information pages and mass media. At the same time, the school has also announced before students register for admission, receive admission notices and complete admission procedures.

At the same time, the school shall comply with the instructions in Decree No. 81/2021/ND-CP (amended and supplemented by a number of articles according to Decree 97/2023/ND-CP dated December 31, 2023):

"The tuition fee for a credit or module is determined based on the total tuition fee for the entire course by training group, profession and the total number of credits and modules for the entire course according to the following formula:

Tuition fee per credit, module =	Total tuition fee for the whole course
	Total credits, full course modules

Total tuition fee for the entire course = tuition fee per student/month x 10 months x number of school years, ensuring the principle that the total tuition fee according to credits of the training program is at most equal to the total tuition fee calculated according to the school year .

"Thus, the school builds tuition fees for one academic year and divides them by the average number of credits per academic year. Therefore, the subjects are collected at the same unit price for each credit. This cost does not only serve the organization of a specific subject but is the total training cost for each academic year and the entire course," said Mr. Hien.

"Students have misunderstandings"

Also according to Master Le Van Hien, implementing the training plan for the second semester of the 2024-2025 school year for students of the 49th course (enrolled in 2024), the University Training Department has organized for students of the 49th course to register for specialized courses from February 12. Particularly for the subject of national defense and security education (including 4 courses with 11 credits), students are organized to register from March 26.

In the 2024-2025 school year, students from courses 46 to 49 will have the same tuition fees per academic year or per credit, only different in the form of tuition fees. Specifically, for students from courses 46 to 48 (courses enrolled from 2023 onwards), the school will collect tuition fees per academic year, students will pay tuition fees in 2 installments per semester. Therefore, tuition fees for professional courses and tuition fees for national defense and security education courses have been paid together by students per semester and are included in the tuition fees for the school year.

With the 49th course (enrollment in 2024), this is the first course that the school organizes students to register for credits to study during the semester. The tuition fee will be paid by students according to the number of credits successfully registered according to regulations. Accordingly, for the courses organized by the school to study during the semester (including national defense and security education courses), if students register to study, they must pay tuition according to the number of credits successfully registered.

"Students have the misconception that the money is only for national defense education and activities related to national defense education, which is not true," said Master Hien.

School adjusts tuition payment time

Therefore, according to the representative of Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, to facilitate students to register and pay tuition fees to ensure the training progress, the school has adjusted the tuition payment time from March 28 to April 18. In case students have difficult circumstances or sudden difficult circumstances and are not able to pay tuition fees, they should contact the Student Affairs Department to apply for an extension of the tuition payment time.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/sinh-vien-phan-anh-hoc-phi-giao-duc-quoc-phong-qua-caotruong-dh-luat-tphcm-noi-gi-185250327183812472.htm