More students enroll at universities despite higher fees

Novia D. Rulistia ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sun, 07/19/2009 11:28 AM  |  Discover

Despite the expensive cost of high education that keeps rising every year, the official data shows an inclining trend of students taking enrollment tests.

Educational observers believe that the number of students hoping to enroll in universities will not decrease as there are more chances of students receiving scholarships or passing academic selection.

To enter state universities, students have to take the National Selection of State University Admission (SNMPTN). This year, the written test took place on July 1-2 and skill test on July 3-4.

A total of 422,418 people sat the SNMPTN, up from 380,418 people last year, competed to win 91,000 seats provided in state universities.

The increased number of people enrolling in state universities was seen in Medan State University (Unimed), University of North Sumatra (USU), Sebelas Maret University (UNS), Hasanuddin University (Unhas), Makassar State University (UNM) and Padang State University (UNP).

In addition, those hoping to enroll in private universities, they can also take a simultaneous admission test to 27 private universities apart from state universities' entry tests.

"It was quite surprising yet relieving that the number of people interested in enrolling in state universities was still high. I thought it wouldn't be that much as there had been lot of admission tests prior to the SNMPTN," said Fasli Jalal, education ministry director general for higher education.

However there were concerns about students who had managed to pass the test but could not continue their studies due to unaffordable expenses at the university.

"High education is indeed expensive. But the question here is who will pay for such high price?" noted educator Arief Rachman asked.

He said that as university was a place for students who had passed certain qualification processes, students with bright academic performance but coming from low-income family background should also get the same chance as those who could pay for high amount of fees.

"There can't be any rejection just because students don't have money," he said, adding that a certain scheme of financial assistance should be available to help them.

Scholarships, cross-subsidy systems and foster parent programs were types of assistance that every universities must have and must be well-managed, he said.

Former rector of Diponegoro University in Semarang, Central Java, Eko Budiharjo said that with high expectation from graduated high school students to continue their studies, academic entry selection and fee-based admittance should be balanced.

"Now we see that universities have several terms of admission tests, and that's good since the opportunity for future students is also bigger. But there should be a special quota as well for those coming from the low-income families."

Eko added the government should also issue a regulation stipulating the admission fees so that it would not be too loose.

Fasli said that the government did not have any regulation on fees, but it would later be stipulated in the law on educational institutions, saying that the government would require universities to generate money from students at only around 35 percent from the current 60 percent on average.

However, he was also concerned about where the students would go if they failed SNMPTN as some universities decided to downgrade the number of their available seats.

"Together with local governments, we have set up polytechnics which are designed correspondingly to the characteristics of the regions," Fasli said, adding that most of them were built in eastern Indonesia.

He also said that the government would also facilitate private universities wanting to establish new study programs so that they could absorb the new students.

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