MOHE: Public University Students To Get 15% Discount On Uni Fees Due To MCO
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Students in the second semester of their 2019/2020 academic session in public higher learning institutions will get up to 15% discount for their hostel, administrative and activity fees.
What you need to know: After receiving feedback from students, parents, and relevant stakeholders, the Higher Education Ministry discussed the matter with the Finance Ministry. The decision was made after taking into account the financial capability of the government and public universities.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Noraini Ahmad said the discount involves a total allocation of RM72mil. RM20mil will be channelled from the Finance Ministry and RM52mil will be from internal allocations of the universities, derived from savings made during the movement control order (MCO).
Why it matters: The discount is aimed to help reduce the burden of students and their families, especially those hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.
While 15% may seem like a small amount of money to some, it is invaluable to the public university student population, most of whom are from the B40 group.
Around 523,318 students nationwide are expected to benefit from the discount.
What’s next: According to Noraini, the Ministry is also aware that students are facing challenges when it comes to online learning, such as limited internet access, high internet costs, and lack of proper devices like laptops and smartphones.
The government has since asked public universities to assist students by sending relevant materials via post to avoid them becoming left behind in their education.
How it got here: On 1 June, Bernama reported that parents and students have called for universities to have their fees lowered since students were not fully utilising campus facilities after campuses were shut due to the movement control order (MCO).
Later on 19 June, The Star reported that Vice-chancellor of several public universities (IPTA) met Higher Education director-general Prof Datuk Seri Dr Mohamed Mustafa Ishak to discuss the matter.
University Malaya’s student union also submitted a petition to their vice-chancellor to reduce tuition fees. The petition managed to garner at least 23,400 signatures.
Read more:
15% fee reduction for public varsity students due to MCO, says Higher Education Minister (The Star)
Students’ appeal for lower fees under study (The Star)
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