After the 12-year compulsory education system goes into effect this year, the Ministry of Education is limiting tuition waivers to students from families with a combined annual income below NT$1.48 million (US$49,158). The Taoyuan County Government’s Education Bureau has lowered the subsidy benchmark, offering tuition waivers to families with two or more children, one of whom starts senior-high school this year, regardless of whether the family’s annual income exceeds the ministry’s stipulated amount. It is estimated that more than 2,000 students will receive waivers this way. The new policy goes into full effect during the 2016 academic year.
The 12-year compulsory education system goes online in August. The ministry’s tuition waiver policy for senior-high schools and vocational high schools will give all vocational high-school students tuition waivers, which includes both private and public schools, while general high-school students must be from households with a combined annual income that does not exceed NT$1.48 million. Tuition will be waived for both private and public high-school students falling into that category. No subsidies will be offered to public high-school students from households with an annual income exceeding that amount, while a subsidy of NT$5,000 will be given to private high-school students. Public and private high school tuitions will also be standardized — NT$6,240 per semester for the former and NT$22,800 per semester for the latter.
Last year the bureau set a budget of more than NT$20 million and decided to offer subsidies to students from households with annual incomes exceeding NT$1.48 million, which gained acceptance in the Taoyuan County Council, making it the only county or city in the nation offering subsidies to high-school students who would be ineligible for tuition waivers based on the ministry’s requirements, which exclude students from wealthier households. According to the bureau’s subsidy requirements, students are exempt from paying tuition if they are from a household registered in Taoyuan County with two or more students, and if one of them are starting high school this year.
Photo: Cheng Shu-ting, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者鄭淑婷
Some parents have criticized the move because the economy is in a slump and say that taxes paid to the government should be used where it counts. Calculations show that the ministry’s set standard for excluding wealthier students from tuition waivers comes out to an average monthly income exceeding NT$120,000, which surpasses the combined income for most households, meaning the standard is already quite relaxed. When comparing tuition at the most expensive private school for one academic year, tuition for one high-school student falling in the excluded wealthy student category would only be 3 percent of the household’s annual income. For a public high school, tuition would be less than 1 percent of annual income. The bureau would nevertheless still offer subsidies to these students, which some parents say is a waste of money.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
今年十二年國教上路後,教育部對高中免學費限定為家戶年所得一四八萬元(四萬九千一百五十八美元)「以下」,桃園縣政府教育局加碼補助,設籍桃園縣的家庭只要有兩名以上子女,其中一人今年開始就讀高中者,即便所得超過排富線,仍可免學費,估計將有兩千多人受惠,二0一六學年起全面實施。
八月起十二年國教就要上路,依教育部高中職免學費政策,高職新生不論公私立一律免學費,高中部分則設家戶年所得達一四八萬元的排富條款,「以下」者不論公私立都免學費,「以上」者,公立高中沒有補助,私立高中補助五千元,同時公私立高中的學費也統一,前者每學期六二四○元,後者二萬二八○○元。
縣府教育局去年編列兩千多萬元預算,決定再加碼補助年所得超過一四八萬元家庭的學生,已經獲縣議會同意,是目前全國唯一對被教育部以排富條款排除的學生進行補助的縣市。依教育局擬定的補助辦法,設籍桃園縣、且家中有兩名以上子女,只要有人今年開始就讀高中就免學費。
但有家長批評,現在景氣不好,政府稅收應該花在刀口上,以教育部訂的排富標準換算,等同一個家庭平均月收入十二萬多元,如此的收入已經超過多數家庭,標準十分寬鬆,若對照最貴的私校一學年學費,一名高中生的學費僅佔排富家庭全年支出的百分之三左右,若是公立高中,支出更不到百分之一,教育局卻仍予補助,根本就是亂花錢。
(自由時報記者邱奕統)
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