Students discuss government’s plans to cut private university tuition fees

Students discuss government’s plans to cut private university tuition fees

2023-06-30

So how do the students themselves feel about Vice President Lai’s idea of subsidies for private university students? On Thursday, an NGO devoted to equal rights in higher education held a press conference, where students praised the Executive Yuan for slashing private university and college tuition fees by NT$35,000 per student per year. They added, however, that the government hadn’t taken this nearly far enough, citing other significant obstacles they faced, such as massive student loans.

Holding placards and chanting slogans, this group of young people who care about equal rights in higher education are delighted to see that ahead of the legislative and presidential elections, some candidates are directly putting forth policies that tackle youth issues.

Huang Ching-tang
Fu Jen Catholic University student
As soon as I graduated, I was burdened with student loans of NT$400,000. Equality in education funding I think is a common responsibility and ideal of society and the nation. I hope that in future my fellow students won’t have the same heavy burden of debt that we do.

Chen Hsiang-ting
Tunghai University student
Students may abandon their ideal faculty in a private university because public university tuition fees are cheaper. This policy can effectively resolve the problem of students’ rights to select suitable higher education.

However, the group has even more demands of the government – including improving the quality of education at private universities, prudently planning for a mechanism for retiring universities that can’t find sufficient students, and reducing students’ accommodation costs.

Chen You-chun
Chinese Culture University student
Tuition fees and other miscellaneous expenses come to about NT$100,000 each year. What still needs to be included is if students from out of town need accommodation expenses. We hope that the three presidential candidates can pay attention to the problems of economic pressure on students regarding student loans and other issues.

The DPP’s presidential candidate Vice President Lai Ching-te has proposed to bridge the gap in tuition fees between public and private universities. Shortly after this, the Executive Yuan approved NT$35,000 in subsidies per head annually for private university students. Opposition parties have criticized the government for throwing money around before an election and say it amounts to a vote-buying policy. The students had this to say in response:

Huang Ching-tang
Fu Jen Catholic University student
This issue is not a kind of vote-buying policy and we need to face it squarely. Even though I myself may have many doubts about this policy -- for example the supporting measures need to be improved -- I believe this policy in itself is good.

Chen Fang-yu
Soochow University professor
Calling it a vote-buying policy is an extremely cheap shot, because as long as all your policies are beneficial to people, they could be said to be vote buying. For a long time, young people have felt that politicians seem to be very far away from them, so I think it’s very good to see even more policies that directly impact youth get on the agenda of everyone’s discussions.

The group hopes that the political mudslinging over Lai’s plans to reduce tuition fees will not obscure the real need for reform. The hearts of youth can only be won over with practical policies.