All students enrolled in full-time education at public universities will receive a 10% discount.
Given the declining solvency of the population in the context of the pandemic, a number of benefits are provided to families whose children are studying on a tuition fee basis. Proposals have been developed by the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education and the Ministry of Finance.
According to the proposal:
• In the 2020-2021 academic year, all full-time students will receive a 10% discount for the current basic tuition fee amount;
• Higher education institutions provide targeted financial assistance to orphans, students with disabilities, as well as students, who are children of families in need of social protection, to cover the tuition fees. At the same time, universities will be able to provide financial assistance of up to 4 million soums, depending on the social status of students, at the expense of available funds;
• More than 4,000 students, who have served in the Armed Forces and are studying at universities on a tuition fee basis will receive financial assistance – 35% of the tuition fee amount shall be paid. This financial assistance ranges from 2.4 million to 3.4 million soums per student per year.
It was added that taxable salaries and other income, which are used to pay for higher education (for the education of oneself, one’s children under the age of 26 or one’s spouse), are exempt from income tax. In this case, the family that paid the tuition fee for one student will receive from 770 thousand soums to 1 million 177 thousand soums per year in the form of income tax benefits.
“In order to avoid overburdening the state budget with discounts on tuition fees, the norms of expenditures related to the educational process in higher education institutions will be revised and measures will be taken to cover the cost of discounts by attracting off-budgetary funds for additional educational services,” the ministerial statement reads.
It should be recalled that the new academic year for 2nd year and higher course students will start in an online form on September 2.
