The rising cost of tuition at universities has become a pressing issue, prompting calls for government intervention to cap these fees. With university degrees becoming increasingly essential for people to climb the socioeconomic ladder, exorbitant tuition costs are not only a barrier to higher education, particularly for students from low- and middle-income families, but a brick wall that will keep most talented youngsters from ever realising their potential, while keeping wealth and power in the hands of the elite, no matter how questionable their competence.
While higher education costs at public universities are generally acceptable — still high for poor Pakistanis but mostly justifiable — fees at private universities have shot up in recent years, and only a handful of such varsities offer financial aid at levels substantial enough to make their costs competitive with public sector institutes. Meanwhile, self-financing is almost impossible due to the abysmally low starting salaries in most industries in Pakistan.
Student loans in many countries can be paid off using a portion of a recent graduate’s salary over the course of several years. Salaries here are so low that for many people, even a low monthly payment would account for almost an entire salary.
The move to cap annual tuition fees at Rs1.8 million for MBBS and BDS programmes in private medical and dental colleges, though still high for many poor families, is certainly welcome, but the government should not stop at medical education.
Other essential fields, such as engineering, should also be capped to ensure that the most competent students, rather than the richest, get enrolled. And since the cash-strapped government is unlikely to be able to afford to increase capacity at government universities any time soon, it should seriously consider making private education more accessible by bringing in looser caps across the board, regardless of the degree programme.
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