According to records, many universities across the country publish the list of students with tuition arrears on the school website. The University of Finance and Marketing continuously publishes the list of students with tuition arrears for each semester and school year, or the University of Transport, Ho Chi Minh City branch, publishes the list of students who do not participate in Health Insurance and the list of students with tuition arrears for the first semester of the 2023-2024 school year.

National Economics University, Hanoi Law University, Hanoi University... also apply the method of publicly posting the list of students with tuition debt on the school website.

The announcement of the list is to remind students to pay their tuition fees on time, and to inform them that they may have their registration for that semester cancelled, be banned from taking exams, or be subject to any form of disciplinary action as prescribed.

It is worth noting that in the lists of students with tuition debt, in addition to their names and the amount to be paid, many schools also include personal information such as date of birth, student ID number, class, number of credits taken, etc. With just one click, anyone can see this information.

Mr. Pham Van Quyet (Thai Binh), a parent whose child is studying at Hanoi University, opposes the above information posting by schools, because it is an act of disrespect to students. “ The fact that schools publicly post the list of students with tuition debt online poses a potential risk of information leakage and violates students’ privacy ,” said Mr. Quyet.

Bui Quynh Mai, Hanoi Law University - a student whose name was on the school's tuition debt list, shared that she would feel ashamed if her friends were to know this information.

“ There are many ways for the school to remind, why choose to make it public on social networks. I think the school should not use the method of naming and demanding tuition fees online. This can make people who owe tuition fees like me feel discriminated against and lose prestige in the eyes of their friends ,” Mai expressed and said that she had her own reasons for not completing the tuition fee on time.

Reminders are necessary but must be tactful

According to Master Pham Thai Son, Director of the Admissions and Communications Center of Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, we should not be too negative but look at the matter from two perspectives.

First, in reality, many students are “slow” in paying their tuition fees, so universities have to resort to posting lists of students with tuition debt online. This can be considered a necessary measure to promote responsibility and encourage students to pay their debts. Only by making public the identities of those who owe tuition fees will social pressure be created to make them prioritize debt repayment.

Second, in the current era of information technology explosion, protecting personal data in cyberspace is important, because if stolen, it can cause unpredictable losses.

Therefore, the strong reaction of many students and parents to the move to publicly disclose their tuition debt is understandable. Moreover, when information is publicly disclosed online, it will make students become sensitive and shy with friends and relatives.

Therefore, Mr. Son said that it is necessary for schools to remind students to pay tuition fees, but they need to be tactful and should not publicize detailed information on social networks to avoid hurting students.

“ Students owing tuition fees is a common situation in universities, which can be understood for many different reasons. For example, in 2020-2021 alone, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade recorded about 30% of students’ tuition debt, which greatly affected the school’s finances.

The school applies the measure of posting papers with information about students who owe fees on the school's bulletin board, and sending separate emails to each student ," Mr. Son informed.