What does Thu Dau Mot University say about collecting 37 billion VND in tuition fees but not paying students?

Thu Dau Mot University was established on the basis of upgrading Binh Duong Provincial Pedagogical College since 2009 - Photo: TUAN DUY

On October 15, regarding the information that Thu Dau Mot University (a public school under the People's Committee of Binh Duong province) incorrectly collected 37 billion VND in tuition fees but returned it to the budget instead of paying students, the school's leaders responded.

Speaking with Tuoi Tre Online , Dr. Doan Ngoc Xuan - principal of Thu Dau Mot University - said that the school has paid 37 billion VND to the budget after receiving the audit conclusion.

This is the amount of tuition collected in excess of the prescribed level for the two school years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022.

Regarding the question that the school chose the "easy option" of paying into the budget, instead of refunding the wrongly collected tuition fees to students, Mr. Xuan explained that when he returned to work at the school, the matter had already been handled by the school. When the reporter asked if this was the "optimal" way to handle it, Mr. Xuan did not answer.

According to research, Mr. Xuan started working at Thu Dau Mot University from August 2023.

Tuoi Tre Online continued to discuss with a leader of the Thu Dau Mot University council, this person explained that the audit conclusion required refunding students the tuition fees collected in excess of the prescribed level, in case the refund cannot be made, it must be submitted to the budget.

According to the school's explanation, the reason for the excess tuition fees for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years was due to "inconsistency in understanding and applying regulations in calculating tuition unit prices for implemented credits".

During the two school years above, the school collected 1.5 times more practice credits than theory credits (even though at that time the school was not yet autonomous in tuition fees).

At the time Thu Dau Mot University collected excess tuition fees, the tuition fees were still partly funded by the budget, so when the audit conclusion was available, the school paid the excess tuition fees into the budget.

As of March 2023, the school has completed the payment of incorrectly collected tuition fees to the budget, according to a report by the People's Committee of Binh Duong province.

Thu Dau Mot University begins financial autonomy

Thu Dau Mot University is the largest public university in Binh Duong province, with about 20,000 students. Each course has about 4,000 people.

From 2022, the school will begin to be financially autonomous in regular spending. Revenue for the 2022-2023 school year is nearly 400 billion VND, mostly from tuition fees.

A leader of Thu Dau Mot University said that since becoming financially autonomous, if there is any excess tuition collected, it will be refunded to students and not paid into the budget as before.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thu-sai-hoc-phi-37-ti-dong-nhung-khong-tra-sinh-vien-truong-dai-hoc-thu-dau-mot-noi-gi-20241015160805166.htm