News about rising tuition fees causes a negative reaction among the public every year, which is why faculties would ideally prefer the media not to report on it, even though journalists consistently point out that it is a matter of public interest and, for many families, a decisive factor when choosing a university course for future first-year students.
This year, however, news of fee increases at a smaller number of faculties within the University of Belgrade has been of particular interest to tabloids, which have placed the blame for the price adjustments on Rector Vladan Đokić.
“This is how the rector cares about students’ interests” was one of the headlines in pro-government media outlets accusing “politician Đokić and his associates” of continuing to undermine Serbia’s education system “after a year of unrest and blockades”. By the tabloids’ logic, the same “responsibility” should also be attributed to “SNS-aligned” rectors, given that certain faculties within other state universities have likewise announced tuition fee increases for the coming academic year.
The truth, however, is that university administrations have no authority whatsoever to decide the cost of tuition for self-financing students; that decision lies exclusively with the governing councils of higher education institutions.
The state has cleverly shifted that responsibility onto faculties, thereby shielding itself from public backlash. It was therefore more convenient for education ministers to generally support students’ demands that tuition fees should not rise – and to recommend this to higher education institutions – than, as the founder and main financier (as the current Minister of Education frequently emphasises), to resolve the long-standing funding problems of public higher education.
It is no secret that shortfalls in faculty funding have long been covered through tuition fees, and that some faculties have used this revenue to increase staff salaries, while students and their parents ultimately bore the cost.
It is also well known that faculties with the highest demand for enrolment are the most expensive, while less attractive faculties struggling to attract students – despite facing objective operating costs – have kept the lowest fees for decades.
Wealthier faculties almost routinely raise their fees by several thousand dinars each year, justifying the increases by citing inflation. In response to criticism over expensive tuition fees, faculties have argued that there are enough state-funded places for strong students and that the costs paid by university students are still far lower than the actual cost of education.
The fact remains that education, including higher education, costs money; the only question is who will bear those costs, and to what extent.
It was precisely through student blockades that students secured a commitment from the state to reimburse 50 per cent of tuition fees for self-financing students, as well as increased public funding for higher education. At the same time, the authorities allowed faculties to raise tuition fees each year in line with the average inflation rate – something some faculties have now done.
That there is certainly money in the state budget is demonstrated by the government’s intention to co-finance foreign universities, whose arrival it strongly supports, instead of strengthening the domestic higher education system and providing free university education – if its true goal is indeed to increase the number of highly educated citizens and prevent young people from leaving for countries where higher education is free.
(Danas, 21.05.2026)
https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/obrazovanje-pa-i-visoko-kosta-samo-je-pitanje-ko-placa-ceh/