By McPherse Thompson, Assistant Financial News Editor
PUBLIC schools' tuition fees set by the Ministry of Education are to remain at their current levels for the upcoming academic year, with the Government absorbing the full economic costs of any upward adjustment through its contribution to individual schools.
At the same time, the island's private schools have signalled that they will be increasing their fees, some by as much as 35 per cent, because of economic factors such as increase in inflation and foreign exchange rate depreciation, which have had ripple effects on their operations.
And the University of the West Indies (UWI) also said its tuition fees would remain unchanged at the Cave Hill and St. Augustine campuses for the 2003/2004 academic year, but those at Mona would be increased by 6.3 per cent.
The UWI said fees for students enrolled in the faculties of Humanities and Education, Social Sciences, Pure and Applied Sciences, as well as advanced nursing students will move to $116,125 from $109,243. Those in Medical Sciences (Pre-Clinical) will pay $185,698, up from $174,692; those in Medical Sciences (Clinical) pay $353,786, up from $332,818, while law students will pay $128,004, up from $120,418.
Jasper Lawrence, deputy chief executive officer for schools operations in the Ministry of Education, said Cabinet decided some time ago to freeze high schools tuition fees at the levels imposed during the 2002/2003 academic year, with the objective of eliminating payments by 2005.
This means that if parents paid, for example, $5,000 for school fees during the current academic year, they will pay the same amount during the academic year 2003/2004, Mr. Lawrence said.
The Ministry would, in fact, be making adjustments to tuition fees, which are used by schools to offset the costs of their day-to-day operations, but any additional amounts would be borne by the Government, taking into consideration added costs being faced by individual institutions as a result of changes in the economy, Mr. Lawrence said. However, he emphasised that "this will not affect the amount that parents pay."
EXCEPTIONS
However, he pointed out that there were exceptions because the Goverment would pay the school fees of students whose families have been assessed as needy under the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH).
The Goverment would also continue to pay 50 per cent of the tuition fees for students under the existing cost-sharing programme.
Mr. Lawrence said parents of students who have not been assessed under PATH or any other arrangement but want assistance would be required to visit the schools and complete application forms, submit them to the principals, who will send them to the Ministry of Education to be forwarded to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security for assessment on the eligibility of full or partial benefits.
Last year, the Government launched PATH as a pilot project in St. Catherine, but the programme will be extended islandwide for the upcoming academic year.
Mr. Lawrence said the percentage adjustment in school fees arising from changes in the economic indicators during the past months has not yet been determined, "but all principals are aware that the fees parents are to pay will be at the level of the 2002/2003 academic year."
Students attending public schools at the level of infant, all-age, primary and junior high continue to be exempt from tuition fees. "Parent teachers' associations do meet and parents do agree to make small contributions, but these contributions are not mandatory and no child can be turned away from these schools because the parents cannot afford the contributions required by the PTAs," Mr. Lawrence said.
Angella Moore, president of the Association of Preparatory Schools, said a number of private schools would be increasing fees for the upcoming academic year because of escalation in prices, operational costs and other economic factors.
Although she could not specifically say what would be the level of the increases because each school determines its own fee, some schools have already notified parents of impending increases ranging in some cases between 25 per cent and 35 per cent.
