House Questions Why Thousands of Prospective Students Fail to Re-register

Deputy Speaker of Commission X of the House of Representatives (DPR), Kurniasih Mufidayati, suspects that thousands of prospective students who have undergone the 2026 SNBT and SNBP selection processes failed to re-register at their chosen universities due to several factors. Based on similar incidents in previous years, she outlined three suspected reasons why many prospective students did not complete the re-registration process. “Firstly, the department or study programme was not their preferred choice or was only a second option at the intended university,” Kurniasih stated at the DPR, MPR, and DPD Complex on Thursday, 2 July 2026. Another factor, she continued, relates to the family’s economic capacity. Looking back at last year, the dominant reason prospective students did not re-register was due to fiscal limitations. According to her, prospective students were plagued by uncertainty even after being declared successful in the selection process, as the cost of paying the single tuition fee (UKT) did not meet their expectations. “Another factor is that some students prefer to continue their education at ministerial or institutional universities, or abroad,” said the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician. She requested that the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology conduct research, surveys, and comparative studies to ascertain the exact causes behind the high number of prospective students not re-registering. She reminded that the phenomenon of many prospective students not continuing their education is a serious national problem. Therefore, she hopes all stakeholders, including prospective students, can work together to achieve higher tertiary education participation rates in the country. “Currently, our university participation rate is still below 40 per cent, less than half,” Kurniasih noted. Recently, reports have circulated claiming that around 60,000 prospective students from the 2026 SNBP pathway chose not to proceed by failing to re-register at their intended universities. The General Chair of the 2026 SNPMB Responsible Team, Eduart Wolok, denied this calculation, stating that the total figure is an accumulation from all selection pathways or new student admissions.