MPR Highlights Budget Accuracy Concerns After 60,000 Prospective Students Allegedly Withdraw

Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Lestari Moerdijat has called on the government and policymakers to evaluate the accuracy of education financing schemes to prevent young people from losing hope due to economic constraints. Speaking at the Denpasar 12 Discussion Forum in Jakarta on Wednesday, Lestari referred to a presentation indicating that around 60,000 prospective students who had passed university selection chose not to re-register due to a lack of access to financing. “This generally happens because they do not have access to financing. This raises a strategic question: why are so many Indonesian children losing the opportunity to learn, even though the right to education is guaranteed in the constitution?” she said. She also encouraged an in-depth study on the effectiveness of education funding to ensure that the budget is allocated for inclusive and progressive educational purposes. Lestari expressed optimism that with improved budget accuracy and targeted allocation, the state can guarantee that no child will have to halt their education solely because of financial barriers. Responding to the issue, Beny Bandanadjaja, Director of Learning and Student Affairs at the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kemdiktisaintek), clarified the circulating information regarding the 60,000 prospective new students who allegedly withdrew or failed to re-register this year. Bandanadjaja stressed that the narrative of 60,000 students withdrawing in 2026 is incorrect, as the independent admission process for this year is still ongoing until the deadline of 31 July 2026. He explained that the widely discussed figure of 60,000 actually refers to an evaluation of 2025 data presented by the National Selection Committee for New Student Admissions during a Hearing Meeting with the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI). He detailed that out of a total national capacity of 627,000 seats in 2025, 585,000 individuals were successfully accepted through the selection process. The difference of approximately 40,000 empty seats was purely due to unfilled capacity because participants did not meet the minimum quality standards, not because they withdrew. “Of the 585,000 accepted, it is true that some did not re-register. Based on the 2025 data, the number was around 17,000, or about 2.8 percent of those accepted,” said Beny.