TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Education and Culture Ministry has implemented a single tuition fee (UKT) system for 94 state universities in the nation. Education and Culture Minister Mohammad Nuh claimed that students would be charged with a lower tuition fee because the ministry will provide university operational assistance funds.

"The tuition fee will be adjusted according to the students, parents’, or caregiver’s economic condition," said minister Nuh on Monday, May 27.

Nuh explained that the ministry has allocated Rp2.7 trillion for operational assistance funds this year, which will be allocated to the University of Indonesia (Rp226 billion), the Bandung Institute of Technology (Rp176 billion), and Gadjah Mada University (Rp170 billion).

By implementing this system, students will only need to pay for single tuition fees. The students will no longer be charged with building maintenance fees, graduation fees, practical course fees and semester credit fees. Nuh also said the policy will also enable cross-subsidy funding so wealthy students will cover the cost of underprivileged students.

Education observer from the State University of Jakarta Lody Paat, criticized this policy. He believes that tuition fees based on a parent’s salary are irrelevant for state universities. He also questioned the intention behind this policy. If it is aimed at helping underprivileged students, Lody believes that the government’s Bidikmisi scholarship program is enough for now.

TRI ARTINING PUTRI