Responding To The Increase In UKT And Pangkal Money, The Vice President Asks For The Burden To Be Divided By Governments-Students-Campus

Illustration of university graduation. (Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Vice President (Vice President) Ma'ruf Amin emphasized the need for proportional financing so that Single Lecture Money (UKT) does not burden students too much.

The vice president responded to the issue of increasing UKT and the basic money at a number of universities which are currently in the spotlight because they are considered burdensome for students.

"The issue of higher education is a constitutional mandate that we must carry out," said Vice President Ma'ruf Amin when giving a press statement after attending the inauguration of the Sharia Economics and Finance Regional Committee (KDEKS), the Opening of the Sharia Economic Week (PEKSyar), and the West Sulawesi Province Sharia National Economic Seminar (Sulbar), in Mamuju Regency, West Sulawesi, Wednesday, May 22, confiscated by Antara.

The Vice President stated that the distribution of the burden of education costs must be proportional between the government, students and universities.

"In my opinion, the solution is divided into this. It must become a burden for the government according to the ability, become a burden for students according to their abilities, and become a burden for universities through business entities that are developed to bear part of it," said the Vice President.

The Vice President believes that the problem of expensive tuition fees will be overcome if the proportionality of financing is built between the three parties.

Touching on the debate about college as a tertiary need, the Vice President argues that higher education remains important even though not everyone has to go to college.

"In my opinion, not everyone should enter university, but universities are also important because we have to prepare superior human resources," said the Vice President.

In that case, the Vice President hopes that the public will no longer need to debate the term.

"The term tertiary then becomes a problem that we should not use that term, but the term is more about our needs and not everyone has to enter higher education. Maybe just disburse it," said the vice president.

The Vice President further explained that universities have a crucial role in printing superior Human Resources (HR) to achieve the vision of Indonesia Gold 2045. However, the challenges of expensive higher education costs are significant obstacles.

"The government's solutions that bear all of them are impossible, can't be done yet," he said.

For this reason, the Vice President emphasized the importance of the role of the State University of the Legal Entity (PTNBH) in finding alternative solutions for education financing.

"Universities are also given an advocacy so that they can develop their business as legal entities. So, universities should also not only (chases their release). PTNBH is free. Don't just be free, you can do this because he is a legal entity, but the responsibility is not, it's also unfair," he said.

Previously, the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Mendikbudristek) Nadiem Makarim said that the increase in UKT as a result of the existence of the Minister of Education and Culture Regulation Number 2 of 2024 only applies to new students and not to students who are already studying in higher education.

"So, the Ministry of Education and Culture regulations emphasize that the new UKT regulations only apply to new students and do not apply to students who have studied in universities," he said.

He said that there were many misperceptions in the community regarding the regulation, including the increase in UKT which was considered valid for students studying at universities, even though it was only for new students in the coming new school year.