Tuition Fees for First-Year Students at Yerevan State University Increased from 70,000 to 160,000 AMD

The president of the Yerevan State University Student Council, David Apoyan, wrote on his Facebook page: "My entire news feed is flooded with congratulations from high-ranking officials, praising knowledge and education. Of course, it is wonderful that the tradition of Knowledge Day is firmly established here. However, who needs speeches and words when, starting from March, students receiving remote education are obtaining a significantly lower quality education, yet unjustly continue to pay the same fees?

For example, how fair is it that a radiophysicist, who should be doing practical work with equipment, is not able to do so remotely, but will continue paying the same fee? Or a biologist, who should have gone for field practice, which he did not attend and will not, yet will keep paying the same tuition? Not to mention that a significant portion of students were removed from even remote education due to technical issues.

Who needs this public and wholesale love for education when, since March, the country’s economic activity has been declining (a 10.4% drop in July), tens of thousands of jobs have been closed, and students will continue to pay the same fees unjustly? And if families had some savings back in March, many have now found themselves facing reality.

To illustrate the seriousness of the situation, I would only mention that there are students who have not yet paid their tuition from the last semester. Who needs the words, 'you are our future,' when, in these conditions of economic decline, the tuition fees for first-year students at YSU have increased from 70,000 to 160,000 AMD? And there is not a single person who will ask if this could not have been done at a time when the economy was not experiencing double-digit declines but was at least in a phase of stable growth.

It seems that everything around students can change, except for the tuition fees. The quality of education can decrease several times, yet the fees remain the same or even increase. The economy may experience a double-digit decline, yet the fees remain the same or increase. Isn’t it time for your Facebook and public love for education to be transformed into specific actions and steps? Otherwise, it turns out that while education is important when making speeches and students are the future of the country, when it comes to financial support, everything falls on the shoulders of students and their families.

I congratulate everyone, especially the first-year students, who are sure to have better education and a better university."