It is noted that some localities have reduced tuition fees and some have exempted tuition fees for students at public schools.

Public schools reduced

In Ho Chi Minh City, tuition fees for both public and private schools have seen many notable changes in the 2024-2025 school year.

In particular, the tuition fees for public schools in Ho Chi Minh City in the 2024-2025 school year will be based on the resolution regulating tuition fees for public preschool and general education from the 2024-2025 school year and subsequent years in the area, approved by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council in the mid-July session.

The resolution takes effect from August 1, 2024. Tuition fees are divided into two groups, group 1 is for students studying at schools in Thu Duc City and districts, and group 2 is for students in districts.

Notably, the new tuition fee is reduced by about 100,000 - 240,000 VND/student/month compared to the 2023-2024 school year, bringing it back to the same level as the 2021-2022 school year.

5-year-old preschool children are exempted from tuition fees from the 2024-2025 school year, effective from September 1, 2024. For primary school level, students in public educational institutions do not have to pay tuition fees according to the 2019 Education Law. Therefore, the above tuition fees for primary school level are not the actual allowable collection levels but are only used as a basis for implementing the policy of supporting tuition fees for some private primary school students.

For example, private primary school students in areas without enough public primary schools and private primary school students who are eligible for exemption and reduction policies will have their tuition fees calculated at the level of Group 1 at VND60,000/month and Group 2 at VND30,000/month. In addition, from the 2025-2026 school year, Ho Chi Minh City will exempt tuition fees for secondary school students according to Decree 81/2021 of the Government.

Private schools from tens to hundreds of millions of dong

For non-public schools, recorded tuition fees range from 15 million VND/year at private schools teaching the Ministry of Education and Training's program and up to hundreds of millions of VND at schools teaching integrated programs and international programs.

Ho Chi Minh City International School continues to be the school with the highest tuition fees in Ho Chi Minh City with tuition fees for grades 11 and 12 of VND931 million/school year, up from VND924 million/year for the 2023-2024 school year.

One of the schools with the highest tuition increase in the 2024-2025 school year in Ho Chi Minh City is the Australian International School (AIS). Specifically, this school year, the school's tuition for grades 11 and 12 is VND816.6 million/year - an increase of VND42.6 million compared to VND774 million/year in the 2023-2024 school year.

Tuition for grade 6 at this school this year is 620.3 million VND/year, last year it was 588 million VND/year, also an increase of 32.3 million VND.

Some schools are not adjusting tuition fees this school year. Canadian International School (CIS) will keep tuition fees for the 2024-2025 school year the same as in 2023-2024. Tuition fees range from VND531.6 million/year for grade 1 to VND785 million/year for grade 12. If studying the IB Diploma program, grade 11 students pay VND799.2 million/year and grade 12 students pay VND824.1 million/year.

Tuition fees at some other private and international schools in Ho Chi Minh City such as South Australia Scotch AGS collects 316.9 million VND/year (grade 1) and 521.5 million VND/year (grade 12), EMASI International Bilingual School collects 160.9 million VND/year (grade 1) and 341.9 million VND/year (grade 12), South America International School UTS collects international program tuition fees of 202.8 million VND/year (grade 1) and 304 million VND/year (grade 8). Renaissance Saigon International School collects preschool tuition fees from 189 - 380 million VND/year, primary school from 491 - 586 million VND/year, secondary school about 656 million VND/year...

The vice principal of an international school in District 7 (HCMC) explained that every year the school's tuition fees will be adjusted to increase by about 8-12%. This increase is to compensate for the annual inflation rate.

Rent and other operating costs also increase every year. In particular, tuition increases are mostly used to increase teachers' salaries and invest in school facilities and equipment for the new school year...

Waiting for regulations on many revenue items

Mr. Huynh Thanh Phu - principal of Bui Thi Xuan High School (HCMC) - said that tuition fees will be collected after students have been enrolled and parents will be notified.

The school’s general policy is to pay tuition fees monthly. The fees will be balanced and divided monthly from the beginning of the year to the end of the school year so that parents are not pressured. Collecting all at once at the beginning of the school year will be quite difficult for parents with many school-age children.

Ms. Bui Thi Minh Tam - principal of Au Lac Secondary School (Tan Binh District) - noted that in addition to tuition fees, parents will pay a number of fees according to regulations, depending on the activities of each school.

For example, in the revenues for educational activities outside of regular school hours, there are funds for organizing 2 sessions/day of teaching, funds for organizing extra foreign language classes, funds for organizing computer science classes... Or in the revenues for educational activities implemented according to projects, there are funds for organizing classes according to international computer science projects, funds for organizing projects for schools to implement high-quality programs...

Similarly, Mr. Tran Quang Nhien - Principal of Chinh Nghia Primary School (District 5) - said that the school is also waiting for regulations on collection rates for each fee in addition to the main tuition fee. For example, service fees for boarding activities (such as fees for organizing services, managing and cleaning boarding, breakfast fees...) or fees to support individual students (fees for purchasing school uniforms, school supplies - teaching materials - learning materials, drinking water fees...).

According to him, many schools are still waiting for regulations or instructions from the Department of Education and Training and the Department of Education and Training because the resolution recently passed by the People's Council does not include these items as in the 2023 resolution detailing up to 26 revenue items.

"In addition, from this school year, primary schools will no longer collect fees for organizing two sessions per day because all grades from 1 to 5 will follow the 2018 general education program. In the 2018 general education program, students must study two sessions per day," said Mr. Nhien.

Da Nang continues to exempt tuition fees from kindergarten to grade 12

The Da Nang City People's Council meeting has just passed a resolution to support full tuition fees for students of all levels in the coming school year.

Specifically, Da Nang supports 100% of tuition fees for public preschool and general education for 9 months of the 2024-2025 school year. Support 100% of tuition fees for students studying high school cultural knowledge and general education programs in public and private vocational education institutions for up to 9 months of the 2024-2025 school year.

Subjects who are entitled to tuition fee reduction according to central and city policies will be compensated with support equal to 100% of the tuition fees for public preschool and general education in the 2024-2025 school year.

With tuition fees ranging from 15,000 to 95,000 VND per month, depending on the location and level of education, the total expected support budget is 108 billion VND. Of which, about 78.1 billion VND is for the public sector, the rest is for the non-public sector (except for students at foreign-invested institutions). The resolution on tuition support began to be formulated when people were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and was first implemented in the 2021-2022 school year. This is the fourth consecutive year that Da Nang has implemented this policy.

Can Tho: tuition fees remain stable

On August 12, Mr. Tran Thanh Binh, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Can Tho City, said that for the new school year 2024-2025, tuition fees for all levels of education in Can Tho City from kindergarten to high school will remain stable in accordance with the resolution of the City People's Council (implemented from the school year 2023-2024). Accordingly, tuition fees at public and private schools will not increase compared to previous school years.

According to the resolution of the Can Tho City People's Council, tuition fees for public preschool and general education institutions from the 2023-2024 school year are divided into two areas: district and county. For schools in districts, tuition fees for preschool are 71,000 VND/month/student, for secondary schools are 65,000 VND/month/student, and for high schools are 75,000 VND/month/student. For schools in districts, tuition fees for preschool are 32,000 VND/month/student, for secondary schools are 33,000 VND/month/student, and for high schools are 43,000 VND/month/student.

The tuition fee applied is lower than the fees applied in previous school years and is considered suitable for the conditions of most students' families. Student groups eligible for tuition fee exemptions at other levels are also exempted according to current regulations and decrees.

Hanoi is drafting new tuition fees.

According to Tuoi Tre's source, Hanoi is currently developing new preschool and general education tuition fees for the 2024-2025 school year and submitting them to the City People's Council at the next session.

The tuition fees applicable for the 2023-2024 school year were finalized by the Hanoi People's Council in March 2024 (after being adjusted compared to previous regulations) ranging from VND 19,000 to VND 217,000/month. Specifically, for nursery, kindergarten (excluding 5-year-old preschool) and high school, the tuition fees are VND 217,000/month (applied in wards and towns), VND 95,000/month (in non-mountainous communes) and VND 24,000/month (in mountainous communes).

5-year-old preschool, primary and secondary school children have tuition fees of 155,000 VND/month (wards and towns), 75,000 VND/month (non-mountainous communes) and 19,000 VND/month (mountainous communes).

For primary school, students are exempted from tuition fees. Therefore, the tuition fees specified above for primary school are the basis for the city to compensate the budget. According to the content finalized in March 2024, in case students switch to online learning, public schools will collect 75% of the tuition fees at the current rate. If students study both online and in-person, the form of study for more than 14 days in a month will be collected according to that form. Preschool children who study less than 14 days in a month will only pay 50% of the prescribed tuition fees, if they study for more than 14 days, they must pay 100%.

Previously, when applying Decree 81 on the ceiling of public tuition fees, Hanoi decided to collect tuition fees at 50,000 - 300,000 VND/month, applied for the 2022-2023 school year, double that of the previous school year. However, to support parents, the city spent 1,133 billion VND to cover the difference, so the actual amount paid by parents did not increase...