Controversy Over Tuition Fee Hikes in State Universities

Recently, there has been a large increase in tuition fees at various state universities in Indonesia. The increase aims to support the implementation of learning and services on campus. However, the decision received a backlash from students, parents and the general public. In order to launch the rejection, students held demonstrations in various regions and their respective campuses until it finally led to the cancellation of the increase by the Ministry of Education and Culture.

The policy regarding the increase Single tuition fee and Institutional development fee previously called Institutional development contribution imposed on prospective new students by several state universities in Indonesia in the 2024/2025 academic year. The increase aims to support the quality of learning and service delivery in higher education. For example, to develop infrastructure, resources and facilities so that student needs can be met so that learning objectives can be achieved optimally. However, this has triggered massive rejection from various parties such as students, parents and the general public because they feel objected to paying the very high tuition. As an effort to reject this, students held demonstrations in various regions and their respective campuses. These included Universitas Jenderal Soedirman (Unsoed) Purwokerto on April 26 2024, Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES) on May 7 2024, Universitas Negeri Riau (Unri) on May 14 2024, and several other campuses in the same month. The action led to the cancellation of the tuition fees increases at various state universities in Indonesia and was officially announced by the Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology Nadiem Anwar Makarim, B.A., M.B.A. on Monday, May 27 2024.

As a student, I understand that the purpose of increasing tuition fees that occur in various Indonesian state universities is good, namely to support various needs on campus, such as in fulfilling infrastructure, resources, funds for various facilities needed by students so that learning can run optimally. However, the fantastic increase in tuition fees is very burdensome for students and parents financially.

Large-scale demonstrations and rejection carried out by students and the general public are a form of conveying legitimate and acceptable aspirations because not all students and parents can pay tuition fees at a very high value. There are a lot of teenagers and families out there who are not financially able to finally be forced to abandon their intention to pursue higher education because of the high tuition fees. Of course, this also violates the purpose of the Constitution which states that the state is obliged to educate the nation's life.

Although the initial purpose of this tuition fee increase is to improve the quality of education, if in the end students feel burdened and miserable, the initial goal becomes useless and only makes the situation worse. Therefore, canceling the tuition fee increase by the Ministry of Education and Culture is a wise decision to prevent a greater gap in access to education.   

The increase in fees at PTN (State Universities) does have a good initial goal, but it is necessary to have clear communication and transparency between the campus and the government with the community and students so that there is no misunderstanding and get results that do not burden only one party, namely students and parents. Education is a right for all people without exception, therefore it is hoped that the government will not arbitrarily increase tuition fees and even hope that tuition fees can decrease.