In February 1996, the government announced that tuition fees of universities’ degree and sub-degree courses in the academic year 1996-97 will be $37,350 and $28,000 respectively.

According to the Education and Manpower Department, the government can recover 16.5 percent of the costs for the degree courses with the proposed fees. By the academic year 1997-1998, 18 percent of the costs will be recovered.

However, many students are disappointed by the upsurge of tuition fees.

tudents and their families,” said Mr. Sung Chee Tak, a representative of the Hong Kong Federation of Students. “Education should be a social welfare. Yet, the government is commercializing it.

“Parents are assumed to bear the tuition fees,” Mr. Sung added. “However, students who are financially independent or have poor relationships with their families have to pay the tuition fees by themselves.”

In March 1996, the Hong Kong Federation of Students conducted a survey about the impacts of high tuition fees on students. Of 1,800 questionnaires distributed to students in Hong Kong's seven tertiary institutions, 1,635 were collected.

The results showed that 93 percent of the respondents opposed the increase in tuition fees, while 85.6 percent of them disagreed with the government’s idea of linking universities’ tuition fees with the costs.

Though opposed by many students, the government insists on its cost recovery target. In the view of the government, tertiary education is not only an investment of the community on the future generation, but also in students’ own personal development. Therefore, students and the community should share part of the cost. According to government statistics, there has been an increase of 23.9 percent in student unit costs from the academic year 1990-91 to 1995-96.

“The government is trying to shift its responsibility to s “If tertiary education is an investment, it must be a very big and risky one,” said Ms Anna Lam, a Year 2 student in the Department of Government and Public Administration at the Chinese University. “Students have to invest about $140,000 for a degree. However, a degree may not guarantee employment.

“Nowadays, even university graduates are unable to find a job,” she added. “Some of them could only find jobs with monthly salary $8,000, which is approximately the amount for those who have never received tertiary education.”

Besides, some students are doubtful about the reasons for high tuition fees. Mr. Sung of the Hong Kong Federation of Students said, “It is especially unreasonable for students to bear the cost of academic research.

“The research costs were supposed to be subsidized. Also, most students do not benefit from this research directly,” he added. “If these costs were deducted, our tuition fees would be only around $10,000.”

To cope with the high tuition fees, some students need to seek financial assistance. While some seek financial supports from family members and relatives, other choose to take up part-time job or borrow money from the bank.

Ms Rosa Mok, a former president of the student union at the University of Hong Kong, said, “I have friends who hold six to seven credit cards as a means to pay the tuition fees.”

In addition, the Local Finance Scheme is another choice for students. But it is described by some students as “complicated and with no guarantee for those facing financial difficulties”.

When her application for the government’s grant and loan was rejected, Ms Mok was asked to quit school for two months in the last semester because she was unable to pay the tuition fees. However, she did not borrow money from the bank or relatives.

“I was uncertain whether I could pay back such large sum of money afterwards,” she said.

Miss Connie Lun, a Year 2 student in the Faculty of Business Administration at the University of Science and Technology, also does not regard borrowing money from the government as a good idea.

Said she: “If I could choose, I would rather have lower tuition fees than receiving the government’s financial assistance.”

October 1996

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