Mar
17
STUDENTS at university in Catalunya pay almost three times as much in course fees as those in Galicia, according to a report which reveals that increases in tuition charges vary dramatically across Spain.
In the north-eastern region of Catalunya, which includes universities in Spain’s second city Barcelona, tuition fee hikes average at 144 per cent whereas on the other side of the country in the north-western region of Galicia – including at the historic and iconic college in the ancient cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela – a typical rise in course charges is just two per cent.
Despite drastic price differences and in contrast to the UK where students seek the university with the best facilities, social life and most suitable option for their chosen course, in Spain the majority of young adults prefer to opt for the college closest to the family home and return to their parents every weekend.
During the last academic year running from September 2012 to summer 2013, for one year of a degree course – being 60 European Credit Transfer (ECT) points, or the equivalent of 120 credits at a UK college – in medicine at Barcelona University would pay 1,620 euros more in tuition fees than a student on exactly the same course at the University of Granada, according to the paper Fiscal crisis, university finance and fair contribution.
And a student of history at Barcelona University pays 924 euros a year more than another studying the same degree at Santiago de Compostela University.
Researchers Juan Hernández Armenteros from the University of Jaén and José Antonio Pérez from Valencia Polytechnic say the system appears to be a form of damage limitation to help colleges smooth out their financial problems caused by the massive reduction in State funding aimed at paying off Spain’s national debt.
They say the new tuition fee policies applied for the previous academic year are purely to earn the State more money, shown by the huge hike in course costs in comparison with the academic year of 2010 to 2011.
These include an average rise of 125 per cent in tuition fees for medical degrees in Catalunya’s universities.
Overall, in Catalunya, tuition fees went up between 2008 and 2013 by 143.5 per cent in Catalunya, 118.6 per cent in Madrid, 92.2 per cent in Valencia and 80.8 per cent in Castilla y León.
By contrast, price increases in Galicia over the same period were on average just 2.2 per cent; in Andalucía, 9.7 per cent; in Cantabria, 13.4 per cent and in Extremadura, 23 per cent.
But even then, rocketing tuition fees have barely served to cover a quarter of the funding loss in Spain’s colleges, say researchers.
The government has slashed the budget by nearly 900 million euros in the last two academic years, and by a total of 1.39 billion between 2010 and 2013.
Students are tending to apply for fewer credits each year to spread out their university studies over a much longer period in order to save money in the short term, although in the longer term this increases costs to both students and the State.
And 70 per cent of students in Spain choose to go to the university nearest their home, or at least in their own region if not the same province – rising to 82.3 per cent in Madrid, 81.7 per cent in Catalunya and 75.5 per cent in Andalucía.
In the cases of these three regions, this is largely due to a wider range of courses on offer rather than because of an inherent desire to stay closer to the family nest, according to a report by the education ministry.
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