Luis Carbonell
Tuition and University Education
urrently, the issue concerning university tuition is
quite controversial. However, I believe that it must be discussed and argued, and a
stand must be taken in order to arrive at the most appropriate decision, since the
university financial crisis is worsening on a daily basis.
At the end of the Nineteenth, Century General Guzmán Blanco, in an act that
truly exalted him, decreed the cost-free educational system from elementary school to
college. His futurist view lead him to anticipate an educated Venezuela, attained by the
access of the entire population to the educational system. This decree was chiefly aimed
at the lower-income class. At that moment, educational costs were very low, and an
unmeasured increase in expenses was not expected.
Undoubtedly, total cost-free education at all levels and in Government schools,
has generated positive consequences, such as educational massification and increased
mobility between the different social strata, as well as negative consequences, such as
a decrease of academic quality due to a defficiently planned massification. However,
the latter is not due solely to the cost-free system.
The current Venezuelan educational panorama of the country is quite different
to that of Gusmán's time. In relation to today's situation, the present economic crisis,
in conjunction with an ever-tightening national budget, which depends less and less on
income from the petroleum industry, which was its main financial supplier, in addition
to scaling educational expenses, and the involvement of syndicates more interested in
syndicalism than on improving the quality of our schools, all lead to us believe that we
are fast reaching a crucial point, in which the Government will be unable to rationally
finance its principal social enterprise: education.
We believe that the cost-free system should be maintained at the elementary and
high school levels. In this manner, the Government will comply with its obligation of
offering an appropriate educational level that will enable the majority of the population
to effectively contribute to society and improve their living standard. By paying for his
college education, the Venezuelan citizen who is able to pursue studies at a university
or higher-learning educational institution will acquire tools for scaling the social ladder,
for which he should pay a fee. Furthermore, tuition payment doe not solely imply a
contribution to the partial financing of our college-level institutions, but also sets forth
a new value for the student, an ethical and moral teaching: he is paying for something
that benefits him, and teaches him the value of sharing, since he is granting to others the
same opportunity he has received.
The question as to how the low-income Venezuelan would access university-level
education may be answered in several ways, such as the following: long-term credits,
that would initially be paid in low installments after graduation; payments in
accordance with Income Tax contribution; the creation of a Higher Education Fund
with scholarship programs available for those students whose merits enable them to
pursue a college education.
Our National Constitution, in its Article 78, clearly establishes that if the
cost-free system is applicable to all educational levels, no credits must be granted to
those who have "means of fortune". In accordance with the current wording of Article
8 of the Organic Education Law, the obligation of contributing to financing college-level
education by those with a high income is relegated to the promulgation of the Higher
Learning Education Law, which must compulsorily regulate this financing.
Summarizing, a specific mandate in this regard is included in the National Constitution
and in the Organic Education Law. This is probably a little-known fact, but it indicates
that, the legislators who discussed the Education Law twenty years ago envisioned the
problem, albeit timidly, but dared not provide a solution.
The cost-free system for college-level education is rapidly disappearing
throughout the world. As an example, the Chinese Government Commission
announced that, as of the current year, tuition in 37 of the most distinguished Chinese
universities will no longer be free. Tuition will vary between 115 and 175 US dollars.
Not even China, a socialist nation, has been able to resist the financial siege implied by
free college education. Our Government universities, aware of the problem, have
implemented measures to the extent allowed by the Law. For example, practically all
Graduate courses are paid per course or semester, and charges are made for other
services rendered, etc... We believe that these small intents are a start, but will not
suffice for creating widespread student awareness in this regard.
It must be clear that tuition payment is not a final solution for educational sector
financing: a healthier financial panorama will be achieved through the addition of an
actual cost restructuring of our higher learning institutions and the implantation of
honest management.
Until recently, we had a Government Minister for Science and Higher Learning
Education. This position was eliminated, and higher learning again was assigned to the
Ministry of Education, and Science assigned to CONICIT. The Higher Learning
Education Law is currently debated in Congress, and a myriad of forums, conferences
and round tables are discussing this issue. A few months ago, a round table was held
in the Academy of Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, attended by several
University Deans and ex-Deans, who discussed the Higher Education Law. A major
portion of the discussion was spent on tuition, which found opponents and acolytes.
Many desire to focus the problem's solution on the creation of Higher Education Fund,
thus maintaining the cost-free system . In my opinion, those who still insist on the
cost-free system have not understood that Government paternalism, a we now know it,
must eventually disappear.
Apparently, priority is granted to the approval of this Law, based on a project
that has been several years in Congress, and which will surely be modified. Based on
the fact that five years were required to approve the Organic Education Law, we believe
it would be advisable to begin formal discussions as soon as possible. The country's
situation calls for urgent solutions to the serious problem of establishing a fair payment
system for college-level students.
URL: http://www.internet.ve/analitica
Mesages to the Autor: carbon@link7.lat.net