VietNamNet Bridge – Arguments have been raised about the legitimacy the Hanoi University applies. Those, who pay tuitions late, will have to pay 0.2 percent of the tuitions more for every day of delay.

A decision was released by the President of the Hanoi University, saying that all the students of the Hanoi University must pay tuitions within 30 days from the day the new semesters begins.

In general, the school begins receiving tuition payment two weeks before the first lesson. As such, students have to pay tuitions within 15 days since the day they begin studying. If they do not pay tuitions on schedule as requested, they would be imposed the fine which is equal to six percent of the tuitions a month.

The students from poor families or in difficult conditions also have to follow the regulation set by the school.

Students need to show necessary documents to explain why they pay tuitions late. Even if they get the permission from the school to pay tuition late, they still have to pay fine.

The tuition payment mechanism applied by the Hanoi University has raised controversy. The fine of 0.2 percent of tuition is described as the “exorbitant interest rate” which is equal to the interest rate offered by pawnshops.

Duy Thong, who was a student of the English Faculty of the Hanoi University, said sometimes he had to borrow money in the black credit market to pay tuitions to the school.

Thong said he did not want to see his name to be added into the “black list” of the students who regularly pay tuitions late. Moreover, he would rather borrow from loan sharks at the interest rate of 0.1-0.12 percent per day, than paying the fine at 0.2 percent per day.

Explaining the harsh regulation, Bui Kim Cuong from the Hanoi University said the school is a state owned university which follows the self-control principle. This means that the school cannot rely on the state budget, but it has to pay all kinds of expenses with its money.

“If all students deliberately delay their tuition payment, our budget will get exhausted and we will not have money to spend on daily operation and long term investment,” Cuong said.

He went on to say that students need to pay tuitions on schedule, because the school always informs the tuition payment schedule one month in advance, which is long enough for students to arrange the payment.

In many cases, students spend too much money on other things; therefore, they don’t have money to pay tuitions.

Also according to Cuong, the Hanoi University has collected VND200 million in fines over the last six years.

Some analysts have pointed out that the Hanoi University violates the current regulations when imposing fine on the students who pay tuitions late. The currently valid Decision No. 42 by the Ministry of Education and Training on the tuition payment does not say that schools have the right to impose fines for the delays in tuition payment.

The decision just says if students do not pay tuitions on schedule, schools can give reprimands or expel them, depending on the students’ violation seriousness.

Dat Viet