The prospect of a pay raise for public sector employees in July has triggered a new round of discussions on whether Taiwan's college tuition fees, which have remained frozen for years, should increase as well. In response, the Education Minister, Wu Ching-ji, gave his word in the Legislature this week that a tuition hike will not happen at least within one year.
Tuition and school fees have been frozen for several years, and legislators will decide if a hike is in order by May.
Military personnel, teachers, and civil servants are set to receive a pay raise of 3% on July 1st, but Education Minister Wu Ching-ji says that tuition and school fees would only have to be raised 0.81%, which is equivalent to a few hundred NT, to cover the additional expense.
Therefore, Wu hopes that universities and technical schools can keep tuition and school fees at current levels.
One legislator is in favor of a tuition freeze policy if the consumer price index or the wages of military personnel, teachers, and civil servants don't increase by more than 5%. In response, the Ministry of Education says that it hopes laws can be amended within six months to create a reasonable calculation basis for tuition and school fee adjustments.
Meanwhile, elementary and junior high school textbook fees are expected to increase by 10%, or around 50 NT per student per semester, due to rising paper prices.
Textbook fees are the jurisdiction of municipal governments, but the MOE is negotiating with textbook publishers to freeze prices for the time being.
◆ 追蹤更多華視影音及圖文新聞：
1.用Plurk追蹤華視影音及圖文新聞：追蹤
2.用Twitter追蹤華視影音及圖文新聞：追蹤
相關新聞