The Social Democratic Party's youth wing is not impressed by the education minister's reforms for free higher education, asserting that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
The youth section of the party says that paid tuition is programmed into the reform even though Minister of Education Jaak Aaviksoo promised a universally free higher education. Not all university students who make it to the state-budget-funded slots will be able to fully complete the requirements of the curriculum.
"Fulfilling a curriculum 100 percent is a heavy load and requires being devoted purely to studies. Most of our students are forced to work alongside their studies, however," said president of the Young Social Democrats, Lauri Läänemets. "It can be said with certainty that tuition requirements will continue to exist in Estonian universities."
In the case of Estonian-language curricula, only students who complete 30 credit hours each semester will be eligible for free tuition, otherwise universities can charge the students.
Under the current system, students must complete 75 percent of the curriculum to qualify for studying in a free-tuition spot.
The Young Social Democrats say they do not understand why it could not remain that way. They also bring up the argument that the requirement of 30 credit hours will force students to sign up for more courses to rule out the possibility of not making a cut due to failing a course.
