Comparison of University Tuition and Fees between Taiwan and Other Nations
June 20, 2007
Generally speaking, welfare nations charge very low tuition and fees. In the past, no tuition and fees are charged (such as European nations before the reform). Since education costs are borne by all nationals, the percentages of taxes (including social security contributions) spent on education are relatively higher (UK 35.6%, France 43.4% and Germany 35.5%). In contrast, the tuition of nations emphasizing free economic market accounts for a higher percentage of GDP. However, their nationals' tax burden is less heavy (US 25.6% and Japan 25.3%). Taiwan's rate of tax burden (including social security contributions) is only 11.8%. S Korea's rate of tax burden (including social security contributions) is higher than that of Taiwan (25.3%). Taiwan's ratio of university tuition to tax burden is lower than those of the US, Japan and S Korea.
Comparison of university tuition and fees between Taiwan and the US and Japan
The economic development of the US and Japan is more advanced than that of Taiwan. Both countries are in the vanguard of popularizing higher education. In the US, the tuition of public universities in different states varies. Generally speaking, it is in the neighborhood of $200,000, with that of universities in Michigan being the highest, about NT$300,000. However, this amount is applicable to residents only. Non-residents have to pay three times as much, with private schools' tuition as high as more than NT$1million. The US's GDP is three times that of Taiwan, while its tax rate is 25.6%, 2.16 times that of Taiwan. Having the highest GDP in Asia, tuition for one year in Japan's public universities is more than $150,000, while that of private universities is between $250,000 and $320,000. Japan's GDP is 2.47 times that of Taiwan, while its tax rate is 25.3%, 2.14 times that of Taiwan. With the multiplication effect of GDP and tax rate, theoretically the US and Japan have more funds to subsidize university tuition. In fact, they don't spend more to subsidize university tuition. This is because of the change in the positioning of higher education by the society. The subsidy policy has been considered from the perspective of popularizing education. In terms of the cost borne by students, the percentage of cost borne by Taiwan students is lower than the average of US and Japan.
Comparison of tuition and fees and tax rate between Taiwan and the US and Japan (2003-2004) (NT dollars)
Nation
Item
Taiwan
US
Japan
Public or national
Average
$58,714/(14.1% of income)
Michigan State University
$299,827/(23.45% of income)
University of Tokyo
$158,718/ (15.5% of income)
UCLA
$222,639/ (17.41% of income)
Yokohama City University
$154,257/(15.07% of income)
Private
Average
$107,360/(25.9% of income)
Stanford
$1,009,127/(78.92% of income)
Keio University
$325,849/(31.82% of income)
Harvard
$1,035,262/(80.96% of income)
Fukuoka University
$257,124/(25.11% of income)
Tax rate
11.8%
25.6%
25.3%
Comparison with the other three Asian dragons
When compared with the other three Asian dragons, which are similar to Taiwan in many aspects, it is found Taiwan's university tuition and fees are not only far lower than those of the US and Japan, but the lowest among the four Asian dragons. In addition, Taiwan's ratio of tuition and fees of public and private universities to GDP is lower than that of Singapore and HK (roughly the same as that of S Korea), indicating that while competing with Asian schools with limited funds, Taiwan universities charge tuition and fees lower than those of other Asian nations.
Comparison of tuition and fees and tax rate between four Asian dragons (2003-2004) (NT dollars)
Nation
Item
Taiwan
S Korea
HK
Singapore
Public or national
Average
$58,714/(14.1% of income)
Seoul National University
$64,828/(14.76% of income)
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
$168,484/(22.29% of income)
National University of Singapore
$372,970-550,590/ (53.49%-223.23% of income)
Private
Average
$107,360/(25.9% of income)
Sung Kyun Kwan University
$119,000/(27.09% of income)
n/a
n/a
Tax rate
11.8%
25.3%
8.8%
13%
Despite different backgrounds of higher education among different nations, when comparing with Japan and S Korea, whose enrolment rate, ratio of numbers of public schools to private schools and ratio of student numbers of public schools to private schools are similar to those of Taiwan, Taiwan's flexible tuition control policy is rare in the world.
Comparison of the system of charging tuition and fees between Taiwan and S Korea and Japan
Taiwan
S Korea
Japan
Public universities
Schools charge tuition and fees after their financial and spending plans, financial aid measures and review procedures prepared in accordance with flexible tuition and fees program and related rules have been reviewed and approved by the review team of MOE.
Adjustment of tuition and fees shall not exceed 10%. Adjustment percentages in the past three years were less than 5%.
No binding rules:
For public schools, the government can only urge schools not to adjust tuition and fees by a percentage higher than inflation rate. There are no binding rules.
Since national universities were turned into juristic persons on April 1, 2004, universities gained more liberty. The government allows schools to charge extra tuition and fees for providing special educational services, with an upper limit of a maximum of 10% over the standard amount.
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology increases the amount based on the year's price index, prosperity, index of pay raise for government employees and the status of the society. There is not an office in charge of announcing the standard amount of tuition.
Private universities
Schools charge tuition and fees after their financial and spending plans, financial aid measures and review procedures prepared in accordance with flexible tuition and fees program and related rules have been reviewed and approved by the review team of MOE.
No adjustment percentage. However, urged by the government, the percentage has been less than 5%.
Private schools are allowed to make their own decisions:
Private universities' tuition and fees are determined by the president and the chairperson. Basically, Education Human Resources believes the amount of funds private universities need to operate should be decided internally, rather than externally.
Private schools' tuition and fess are not regulated:
Private universities' tuition is not regulated.
Therefore, there are universities whose schools of medicine charge as much as $5m yen for tuition.
Description
Applicable laws include University Act, Private School Act and Statute for School Affairs Fund of National Universities. Spirit of the legislation is similar to that of Japan's public universities. That is, an upper limit is set for public and private schools. However, in practice, MOE reviews adjustments on a case-by-case basis.
No government rules governing public and private universities' tuition and fees exist. Schools are free to decide. No binding matching measures exist either.
Private universities decide how much they charge for tuition and fees, while public universities may not charge tuition and fees more than the upper limit set by the government and charge tuition and fees on a flexible basis.
Comparison with European nations
In recent years, the high-tax Europe has been considering reforming higher education and moving towards a system that charges users. Austria is intensely debating university tuition in the parliament. Six German states call on the parliament to terminate the piece of legislation that exempts college students from paying tuition and charge students who fail to graduate within the period of study NT$80,000 a year. Meantime, they call for a revision of the law to terminate the system of zero tuition. In addition, universities in Belgium are beginning to charge an enrolment fee of $500 euros, while Holland and Italy charge an enrolment fee of $1,000-1,500 euros (the equivalent of NT$40,000-60,000). Dutch universities charge students of certain departments such as business departments tuition as much as $5,000 euros (NT$200,000) and students of graduate schools tuition as much as $8,000 euros (NT$320,000). French universities training students to become civil servants charge tuition of NT$180,000.
Worthy of note is European nations' tax rates are at least 35%, with Sweden being 50.6%, Denmark 48.3%, Belgium 45.4%, Austria 43.1% and France 43.4%. All of them are higher than 43%, and at least three times that of Taiwan (a mere 11.8%). In addition, their GDPs are 2.3-2.6 times that of Taiwan.
In the UK, the tax rate is as high as 35.6%, three times that of Taiwan. There is only one private university in the UK. Public universities scrapped the zero tuition policy as early as 1990. Currently, universities' tuition is around ￡1,150 (NT$66,700), while graduate schools' tuition is about ￡1,500 (NT$87,000). Starting 2006, they can charge as much as ￡3,000 (NT$174,000). In the future, more European universities will charge tuition and fees.
