Universities set to raise education fees

The Ministry of Education says that the students who pay for their education cover only 58 percent of the total cost. However, even the universities maintain that commercial students make profit for them.

Alikasandr Krasutski, the deputy chief of curriculum and scientific department at the Belarus State University, told the European Radio for Belarus that education fees are priced to cover expenditures and profit. The students that pay for their education are a profit-making source for universities.

“Under the Ministry of Education’s resolution No 38, we calculate the fees, basing on actual losses plus profitability. According to a Council of Ministers’ resolution, the profitability rate should be up to 30 percent for the state-sponsored universities and up to 25 percent for private colleges. We do not make it 30 percent, because it would raise the ceiling. In the best case, we calculate profitability at 5-10 percent”, he said.

30 percent is a very high profitability rate. Neither the Gazprom nor petrochemical refineries have a profitability rate of 30 percent. So, it is surprising that universities tend to reach this target. Uladzimir Zdanovich who chairs the Education Committee at the House of Representatives believes that the figure of 30 percent came to the education sector from commerce.

“Apparently, this figure of 30 percent has emerged from shops. Vendors are also allowed to raise the profitability rate up to 30 percent. The system of the higher education is gradually becoming market-based. I don’t like it when education and commerce become equated. I’d always say that traders should be thrown from the temple of science,” Zdanovich said.

Specialists suggest that there is a proportion: the less there are students per one professor, the more expensive education is. But, this formula doesn’t seem to be working in Belarus. A deputy dean at one of the regional universities told the European Radio for Belarus about his impressions regarding the calculation of university fees.

“The fees are calculated arbitrarily. Recently, I read a document from the Ministry of Education which writes black on white that expenditures for one year of education amount to an average of $900-1200. Presently, we charge $2000, because our economists who grew in the Soviet Union like ripping in a full scale”.

Uladzimir Zdanovich dealt with this issue and saw how the calculations were made.

“If we take all the expenditures that universities bear and divide them only among the students that are paid by the state, the cost will be very high. I came to a conclusion that there are two many articles that should not be treated as direct losses associated with education, e.g. business trips by professors, utilities, stationary and furniture. If all of this is paid for by students, one can of course say that they pay less than they should. But if we look at the direct costs associated with professors’ salary and a necessary equipment, students definitely pay for themselves plus help universities procure all the necessities”.

However, the Ministry of Education has voiced different figures. As of September 1, the average cost for commercial students is $1014, while actual expenditures allegedly amount to $1736. For instance, the cost of education at the Department of International Relations at the Belarus State University is approximately $1570. The Chinese students pay $2670. The difference is almost one thousand dollars. It may still turn out that Belarusian students will pay the same amount of money as their Chinese peers.

In the view of the lawmaker, universities should increase their budgets by cutting expenditures, especially now when the state is saving on everything.

“If universities looked at how they could reduce expenditures, I am confident that there would be no need to raise their fees. Moreover, under the Directive No 3, we demand that everybody save on gas, water, energy, anything. Surely, universities should be faced with the similar demands to look for internal reserves rather than cover their losses at the cost of students”.

Moreover, Zdanovich says that the students who pay for “expensive” humanitarian professions compensate the existence of cheaper technical specialties. If they raise fees there, people will stop getting enrolled. Prestigious professions are often overpriced, because there is a huge demand.

If university fees soar, there will be a need for discounts, because there will be no people to do their studies. If education costs rise, the graduates who have dodged their mandatory assignments will also have to refund more money to their universities.