During a ceremony at Chaoyang University of Technology’s summer volunteers’ camp in Taichung on Tuesday, Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, said that the government would subsidize students at private universities to cover “at least half” of the gap between the tuition fees of public and private universities, which is estimated to be about NT$25,000 per year.
The subsidies are to be implemented from the second semester of the 2023-2024 academic year and approximately 590,000 students at private universities are expected to benefit.
For most students at private institutions, this was welcome news, but to the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the proposed measure was nothing but the DPP pandering to voters.
When asked about the policy, Hou told reporters it was clearly a political ploy, as the DPP, despite having been in office for the past eight years, suddenly thought to address the private college tuition gap right before the January presidential election.
He asked whether the policy would be retroactive to cover people who graduated from a private college and are paying student loans.
Splurging is not the solution, he added.
A better solution would be to facilitate stronger ties between universities and industry, which would help new graduates find jobs, and promote increasing salaries, Hou said.
When asked if the DPP is using state resources to help Lai with his campaign, Hou said he was afraid this was the case.
As the subsidies would come from state coffers, it is highly doubtful that the policy would provide the substantial benefit for private institutions that Lai believes, Hou said.
However, Hou’s “splurging” comment reveals that he is not aware of the economic burden most students at private colleges face, while Lai has taken to heart students’ interests and the heavy burden they face after graduation.
The high cost of private tuition has been an issue for a long time and the government has been looking out for students’ interests by putting the brakes on demands by private universities to increase tuition fees.
Consequently, as the government’s finances are healthy enough to offer subsidy programs, it is seizing the chance to facilitate social justice, an act that any national leader would seek to do.
Unsympathetic to the plight of private college students by loftily calling the policy “splurging,” Hou’s remark exposes him as a narrow-minded candidate with limited understanding of issues of higher education and one who does not have the magnanimity to appreciate his rival’s policies.
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) followed up on Lai’s remarks at an event at the Freeway Bureau’s traffic control center in Taipei on Thursday, when he said that the Executive Yuan is proposing three supplementary measures to broaden subsidies for college tuition, make high-school and vocational high-schools free, and extend tuition loans to bolster education in Taiwan.
As tuition at private universities and colleges is prohibitively expensive for many Taiwanese aspiring to get the education they want, the subsidies would level the playing field and increase fairness in education opportunities.
This is a concrete plan to implement the spirit stipulated in the Educational Fundamental Act (教育基本法) and, if possible, to benefit students at experimental education institutions.
Surely Hou would not have the heart to say “nay” to these proposals?
Chang Huey-por is a former president of National Changhua University of Education.
Translated by Rita Wang
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