Proposed university tuition hikes would profit schools at the expense of disadvantaged students, student protesters said yesterday.
The Alliance Against the Commoditization of Education, along with student and labor groups yesterday protested outside the Ministry of Education in Taipei, demanding that it reject universities’ applications for tuition hikes.
Twenty-three of the nation’s more than 150 universities have applied to raise tuition fees following a five-year freeze, with proposed hikes ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 percent.
Photo: CNA
“The central reason behind this round of tuition hikes is a continuous building spree by universities,” Shih Chien University student Wu Fu-tung (巫馥彤) said, adding that there were questions over whether the construction served the best interests of students.
“At a time when almost 30 percent of students have to take out loans, universities are focusing on developing their visions rather than caring about the problems students face,” Wu said.
Advocates said that 16 of the 23 universities had turned a profit over the past three years, with seven earning more than NT$100 million (US$3.2 million).
Many of the universities have also increased non-tuition fees and other expenses faced by students, they said.
They also criticized increased subsidies and admission targets set by the ministry for students from disadvantaged groups in a bid to cushion the impact of tuition increases.
Student rights advocate Chao Li-wen (趙俐雯) said that the ministry was contradicting itself because tuition increases would “create” additional disadvantaged students.
Chao called on the ministry not to use additional aid to disadvantaged students as an excuse to raise fees.
The groups called on the government to increase capital-gains taxes to pay for education costs and demanded that new regulations require a majority student membership on university boards, which draft tuition fee increase proposals.
After shouting slogans, the protesters crumpled up pieces of paper bearing their demands and threw them into the ministry’s courtyard.
The ministry said that it is still in the process of reviewing the universities’ applications, with decisions to be announced by the end of the month.
Department of Higher Education official Lee Hui-min (李惠敏) said that during the ministry’s review an emphasis would be placed on student participation in the application process as well as on how the money from fee increases would be used.
Additional reporting by Wu Po-hsuan
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