Students exempted from tuition fees

PALU, Central Sulawesi: The state-run Tadulako University has exempted students from paying tuition fees if they have completed their courses and all that remained of their obligations was to defend their graduate dissertation.

Rector Mohammad Rasyid said yesterday he hoped the new policy would help to reduce the students' financial burden.

He was quoted by Antara as saying that many of the 8,500 students were finding it difficult to stay in school due to the country's worsening economy.

Only 800 of them received scholarships from the government and from the Supersemar foundation, chaired by former president Soeharto.

"This policy is aimed to help students and their parents," Rasyid said yesterday. (prb)