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Pre-payment of tertiary tuition fees
Following is a question by the Hon Cheung Man-kwong and a written reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mr Joseph W P Wong, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
Regarding the policy adopted by the tertiary institutions funded by the University Grants Committee concerning the collection of pre-payment of tuition fees from new students upon registration, will the Government inform this Council if it is aware of:
Reply:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(a)
the policy concerning the collection of pre-payment of tuition fees (including the amount of pre-payment) adopted by the tertiary institutions in the past three years;
how the amount of pre-payment of tuition fees is determined by the tertiary institutions; and whether all or part of the amount of pre- payment will be refunded to the students who drop out before the commencement of an academic year;
the amount of non-refundable pre-payment of tuition fees collected, together with the number of students involved and the purposes for which such amounts have been used, in respect of each of the tertiary institutions in the past three years; and
whether the tertiary institutions have received any complaints in the past three years about the amount of pre-payment being set at too high a level; if so, what the total number of such complaints is and whether the institutions will be urged to review the existing policy on the collection of pre-payment of tuition fees as well as the amount of pre-payment?
The Administration understands from the University Grants Committee (UGC) that over the past three academic years, the institutions collected tuition fees in advance from full-time undergraduate students in two equal instalments, each being 50% of the total annual tuition fee. New students were required to pay the first instalment upon registration, which normally took place in August and September each year. Most institutions collected the second instalment around February each though the exact dates varied amongst institutions.
year,