4263 | 9 July 2025 | 08:30
The student protest "Education is a right, not a privilege!" will take place today, July 9, from 6:00 PM at the entrance of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", located under the underpass next to the metro station at Sofia University, according to organizers.
The protest is against the increased tuition fees for students in paid education at universities.
"We, the students of the Faculty of Law at Sofia University, declare our opposition to the decision to drastically raise semester fees. We do not accept the reality that starting this fall, many of our colleagues will not be able to enter the university because they cannot afford double the tuition fees. In some faculties, the increase reaches up to 200 percent! This is not just unfair - it is an attack on the right to education, on the present and future of Bulgaria. "We will not allow this to happen! We are protesting because we do not want to be denied the opportunity to receive quality education, to stay in Bulgaria and work for its prosperity, to build our future here - in our homeland," the organizers stated.
According to them, the problem affects not only Sofia University, but all state higher education institutions in Bulgaria. "That is why we call on students from all majors, courses and universities across the country to join in the protests and stand with us, because education is a right, not a privilege," the organizers declared.
Months ago, it became clear that the increased state funding and regulatory measures in the law will lead to an increase in tuition fees and fees. This happened and we spoke with the parliamentary representatives, and they introduced a draft law, said Minister of education and science Krasimir Valchev yesterday at a meeting with university rectors, which took place at the University of Telecommunications and Posts.
"None of us have increased the fees through our actions, neither the universities are to blame, nor the state. This is the flip side of the coin of the increase in subsidies for universities. Last year, the subsidies for universities were increased by a higher percentage, this year there was also a good increase, which led to a higher average value of funding per student in state universities. The bill that has been introduced envisages a reduction in the percentage of state subsidies for tuition fees.We discussed it again with the rectors, unfortunately there are several extreme cases, which are determined by the fact that in several professional fields there is an additional quality supplement, which also participates in the calculations," explained Minister Valchev.
"We must not allow the funds from the state order budget for students to be used to finance students in paid education and we will propose changes to the law between first and second readings. We have spoken with the leaders of all parliamentary groups that support the government, to prioritize the bill and it may be adopted this week in the plenary hall. What we can say for sure is that it will take effect immediately for the next academic year." The fees announced by higher education institutions can be adjusted so that we do not have this sudden increase," expressed Minister Krasimir Vulchev with confidence.
A draft law, which will lead to a decrease in tuition fees in higher education, has already been approved at first reading in the parliamentary committee on education, said Minister Vulchev on July 6th in the show "Why, Mr. Minister?" on BTV. He noted that there has been broad support for these proposed changes in the Higher Education Act in the committee and expressed hope that this will also happen when the vote takes place in the plenary hall.
The issue of tuition fees for paid education will be resolved for the upcoming academic year, said Education Minister Krasimir Valchev yesterday at a meeting with students from Sofia University.
Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" adopted a position on the proposal introduced on June 27 in the National Assembly for consideration and voting on an amendment to the Higher Education Act, the press center of the university announced.
The Council of Rectors of Bulgarian Higher Education Institutions adopted a position yesterday in response to social tension arising from the regulation of the new tuition fees for paying forms of education for students and doctoral students.
Experts believe the trap of increased fees has been set by the universities themselves. The reason is that, motivated by inflation and increased costs of education for students, as well as for technical equipment, they have requested the government to raise coefficients for a large part of the specialties. The state has paid several times more for students accepted through a state order. And since the law links this support to the fees for paid education, which until now had to cover it 100%, the increase was precisely for this reason.
"In order to avoid sudden increases and ensure predictability for students, a legislative change is proposed: the fees for students in paid education cannot exceed 60% of the student's support, and increases for enrolled students will be limited to a maximum of 20% annually," commented Minister Krasimir Valchev after a meeting with rectors of technical universities.
"We have calculated the average and additional expenses per student and we will propose changes to the law. The fees announced by higher education institutions for the next academic year can be adjusted." The increase is for specialties where we are unable to fill the state order, as well as for students paying for their education. The average fee for students receiving state funding is 1050 leva. In the past 10 years, it has increased by 44%, while state funding has increased by over 150%. This means that the country is financing a much larger part of the education cost," announced the minister.
It is fair for the fees in question to be 30% to 40% lower than the established fee under Art. 95, para. 4 of the Higher Education Act. In other words, the fair formula is for the tuition fees not to be lower than 60% of the cost of living for education, plus the fee for the respective professional direction or specialty of regulated professions. This is the proposal of the Council of Rectors of higher education institutions. A reasonable proposal is also for the annual tuition fee not to increase by more than 20% for the respective year compared to the previous one. Such a restriction will ensure some predictability for students and their families and will help them plan their budgets.
Mobile verison
RSS
