Students complain about rising tuition

The Democratic Student Federation complained that universities spiked their tuition fee by 300,000 to 400,000 MNT on Tuesday.

“The rights of over 155,000 students in Mongolia is being violated in eight ways. From 2017 to 2018, 155,248 students attended 96 universities and colleges in Mongolia. Over the past year, our federation met with student body representatives of all higher education institutes. Eight student rights were violated. Tuition, the price of each credit, has been increasing every year. For example, the National University of Mongolia has increased its credit cost by 11,900 to 19,200 MNT, which means that their students who have to study 30 to 40 credit a year will have to pay 300,000 to 400,000 MNT higher tuition than last year,” said the federation’s president N.Lkhagvadorj.

The Mongolian University of Technology and Science reportedly charged 66,250 MNT per credit last year but for the upcoming academic year, it is charging 76,900 to 78,900 MNT per credit depending on student’s major.

Students called out to the minister of education, culture, science and sports to address issues with school environments and capacity of professors if their tuition is being raised. They believe that universities and colleges shouldn’t be raising their tuition if they are not improving the learning environment or professors.

Another complaint students made was related to rents of school dormitories. They said that along with tuition spike, rents of dorms also increase. It was reported that out of some 15,000 students who request to live in a dorm, only a small portion of them are approved.

“For these reasons, we will submit an official letter to school administrations to express our disapproval of unrequired increase of tuition. If they don’t respond, we will show that students have an organization that protects their rights,” N.Lkhagvadorj declared.