Increase in tuition fee? No way: Students

Increase in tuition fee? No way: Students

JAKARTA (JP): The party is over. State universities are now
having to work hard seeking ways to generate more funds in
anticipation of the government's plan to reduce subsidies.
Raising tuition fees is one possibility, but it may be the most
unpopular one and trigger unrest among students.

A number of students from different state universities talked
to The Jakarta Post, expressing their objection to the plan.

Fathurrahman, 19, a law school student at Airlangga University
in Surabaya, son of a retired employee of a sugar factory in
Kediri, 125 kilometers southwest of the city:

I hope that the national education minister does not kill off
students like me by hiking tuition fees.

My father, who has a monthly pension of Rp 250,000, only sends
me Rp 400,000 for the cost of one semester's tuition. I work for
a printing company to support my life in Surabaya. What should I
do if tuition fees are increased?

Ali Maksum, from the school of forestry at Gadjah Mada
University (UGM), Yogyakarta:

When I enrolled at the university I was charged Rp 250,000 in
tuition fees plus Rp 50,000 in laboratory work fees for one
semester.

My university cannot be compared to universities like the
University of Indonesia and Bandung Institute of Technology. Most
UGM students are from poor families living in rural areas, and
the university must maintain its schemes to exempt poor students
from tuition fees.

Mohammad Saichu Anwar, a student in the archeology department
at Udayana University in Jimbaran, Bali, whose father was a
school teacher:

Udayana charges Rp 250,000 per semester for the social science
school and Rp 300,000 per semester for the exact science school.

People have been made dizzy by the prolonged economic crisis.
Students from poor families like me will be severely hit by
tuition fee hikes.

Maya, 22, currently studying journalism at Bandung's
Padjadjaran University:

I am afraid only students from well-off families would be able
afford to go to universities if tuition fees increase and
increase. What would happen to our friends, whose parents are
poor farmers or civil servants?

Djoko Sadewo, a 10th semester student at Soedirman
University's social and political science school, in Purwokerto,
Central Java, son of an employee at the Purwokerto regency
office:

The university's tuition fees are now Rp 250,000 per semester.

Students will just want to finish their studies as soon as
they can because of the (rising) cost. This will be unhealthy as
they will have to ignore the quality of their work.

We will be up in arms against any tuition fee hike.

Latif Bimo Y, another Soedirman University student, whose
mother owns a small streetside eating house in Pekalongan,
Central Java:

Tuition fee hikes will be OK as a last resort. But the quality
of education must be improved. The hike would become a problem if
the facilities and the quality of education did not improve.

Ali Maksum from Gadjah Mada University:

The lecturers must improve their quality in line with the hike
in tuition fees.

Ariyanti Halimah, 20, of the exact science school of State
University of Surabaya, who pays Rp 350,000 in tuition fees for
one semester:

We will stage street demos against any tuition fee increases.

The government has pledged to improve the development of human
resources. But financial aid for education is going to be
reduced. With the current tuition fees we are left behind other
countries in human resource development.

Dudik, a forestry student at Bogor Institute of Agriculture
(IPB):

Most IPB students are from low-income families.

I get a monthly scholarship of Rp 100,000 from the Tanabe
Foundation in Japan.

I am very lucky. My father is a junior high school teacher in
Cirebon. Frankly speaking, he could not afford for me to study
(without the scholarship).

Ageung Hatma Mahardika, 20, a student in the geology school at
Bandung Institute of Technology:

The government should have added to the education budget.

I am not from a rich family. Regardless of my personal
objections, I cannot understand why the government has abundant
money to inject into troubled banks, but not into education.
(team)