Private university tuition fees increased 20 percent

Önder Öndeş – ISTANBUL

The tuition fees for universities run by private foundations increased 20 percent annually, a handbook released by the public authority in charge of university placements has revealed.

The average annual fee at a medical faculty of a private university has reached about 80,000 Turkish Liras ($14,000), according to the handbook of higher education programs and quotas released by the Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM). Thus, a medicine student has to pay about 500,000 liras ($87,500) during the course of at least six years, considering the probable tuition fee increases in the upcoming years.

Students who wish to study medicine are also obliged to be ranked in the first 50,000 among more than 2 million entrants of the university admission test. The 73 foundation universities have planned to enroll 2,411 medicine students combined in 2019.

The lowest tuition fee for a law school is 35,000 liras ($6,115) for every one of the four years of the undergraduate study, whereas the highest one is around 2.7 times higher than that. There are 6,802 available places for law students at the foundation universities.

For an undergraduate degree at an engineering or architecture department within a foundation university, a student should pay an annual tuition fee between 25,000 liras ($4,370) and 96,500 liras ($16,870).

The annual tuition fees for psychology, educational sciences, communication and business administration programs range between 30,000 liras ($5,245) and 60,000 liras ($10,500).

This year, 130 public universities across Turkey have offered 835,066 places, including 15,050 at the medicine faculties, for the new entrants.

Unlike foundation universities, students enrolled at public universities can study on state-provided loans without paying a yearly tuition fee.