Since the 1996/97 school year, inflation has risen by about 40%, but local subsidized university tuition fees have never increased. There are reports that the government plans to gradually increase tuition fees for eight subsidized universities. The initial plan is to increase tuition fees for three consecutive years starting next year, with an annual increase of 5% to 9%. It is expected to be announced within the next few days.

Universities need to maintain human resources and maintain the quality of courses, and the annual expenditure is huge. However, the tuition income in Hong Kong is far lower than the expenditure. The funding source mainly comes from government subsidies and university fundraising. At present, the bachelor’s degree courses of the eight subsidized universities only require 42,100 yuan in tuition fees per year, which is very cheap compared with the annual tuition fees of 200,000 to 300,000 Hong Kong dollars in well-known universities in the UK and the United States. Moreover, the current tuition fees have never been adjusted since the return, and they cannot even keep up with the basic inflation rate. Even if the tuition fees are adjusted for three consecutive years according to the highest increase of 9% revealed by the news, the inflation rate of 29.5% in the past 27 years can only be recovered in three years, which is still 10% lower than the accumulated inflation of 40%.

While adjusting university tuition fees, I believe the authorities will have corresponding measures to assist students in need to pay tuition fees, including applying for government loans. Based on the average salary of university graduates in past years, university graduates are able to afford student loan repayments. The existing mechanism is effective and no student will be unable to continue their studies because they cannot afford tuition fees.