Indonesia: State Universities lower school fees

According to reports, Indonesian state universities will forgo initial fees for new students at the start of the 2013 academic year.
Schools are to receive twice the amount of State University Operational Assistance Funds (BOPTN) from the government to recompense for revenue losses.

In addition, the Education and Culture Ministry has instructed all universities to prepare to implement a single tuition fee system. Students will only have to
pay one fee at the beginning of each semester, instead of making several payments throughout the academic year.

Idrus Paturusi, rector of Hasanuddin University, states that BOPTN allocated Rp 64 billion (USD 6.6 million) to the school for the 2013-2014 academic year, an amount double to the one provided in 2012.

 He claims that the university will be able to lower tuition fees from Rp 750,000 (USD 78) to Rp 650,000 (USD 66) per semester.

Another school, Jakarta State University, already applied the single tuition fee system for the 2012-2013 academic year.
Assistant rector Zainal Rafli noted that semester fees currently run between Rp 1.9 million (USD 195) to Rp 4 million (USD 412).

However, Zainal indicated that “the BOPTN for this year is still a question mark,” with the university still awaiting disbursement from the government.