– By Boshra Al-Meraikhi –
School fees in Qatar are decreasing and that is partially due to the Ministry of Education and Higher Education making it more difficult for private schools to increase their tuitions.
In 2016, the ministry received 127 applications from private schools to raise their tuitions for the 2017-2018 academic year. Of these, it rejected 70 percent of the requests. Only 38 applications were approved, according to the ministry’s online announcement.
“We stopped trying to apply for an increase in tuition fees. We applied for several years and constantly got rejected,” said Andrea Lofkin, the deputy head teacher for the secondary school at Qatar International School.
Reasons for rejected fee increase requests
Private schools have to follow a series of steps when applying for approval to increase their tuition fees.
According to Taryn Jerling, an education consultant in the department of private schools affairs at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, private and international schools must provide convincing reasons and show how they plan to use the money from a proposed tuition increase.
“We have the responsibility and the role to try and keep school fees affordable,” she said.
A school or preschool must operate with a proper license for at least four years before it can apply for a tuition increase. Three reports must be provided to the ministry to justify a school’s request: a feasibility study, a financial plan and an educational plan.
“For instance, you want to add a space for parents to park or add a swimming pool for extracurricular activities, then you would have an architect to draw it out. You would have to get the construction coming and set out a time schedule for it to be completed. Then we will decide if it is acceptable or not,” Jerling said.
The ministry’s announcement explained why many requests were denied. Either the three financial lists had not been attached to the application form, or the school did not mention measurable and justifiable reasons for the need to increase its tuition fee.
The Ministry of Education and Higher Education’s website states the rate of increase in fees for private schools ranged from one percent to 15 percent for the current academic year.
According to the most recent statistics available from the ministry, during the 2015-2016 academic year the average school tuition fee per student was approximately QAR 62,565. This is a nearly 31 percent decrease from the previous academic year. This shows that despite parent complaints that schools in Qatar are expensive, tuition fees are decreasing. But as a result, ministry officials say the drop has encouraged private schools to apply for tuition increases.
Park House English School, located in Abu-Hamour, sent an email on Dec 20, 2017, informing parents about a planned 10 percent increase in tuition starting in September 2018, if the ministry approves their request. The letter lists the justifications for the potential increase in tuition, which are mainly to improve and enhance the student learning experience, according to the school. For example, the school hopes to improve its technology infrastructure by purchasing 92 iPads and laptops for students to use in class. In addition, the email also stated plans to improve campus gate security, increase the range of subjects offered to its secondary school students, expand sporting facilities and to refurbish its libraries, according to the email.
“We have not heard back from the ministry. The reasons on the letter are what we are aiming for,” said Kate Blomfield, an assistant to the principal at Park House English School.
Many parents choose to enroll their children in private and international schools in Qatar because they offer a high quality of education and top exam certifications, including the International General Certificate of Secondary Education and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program.
A Qatari parent of five children and a professional in the medical field in Doha, Leyla Al-Abdulla, 56, initially placed her children in Holywell Primary School in 2001, a private school in the United Kingdom because she was pursuing her doctorate degree there. After completing her studies, she came back to Qatar in 2005 and decided to place her children in a local private school that follows a British curriculum.
Al-Abdulla said she struggled to afford the considerably high tuition fee, and she later had to transfer her children to an independent school. Her daughters were placed in Al-Eman Independent School for Girls and her son in Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Independent School for Boys.
Independent schools are government-owned; they prioritize students whose parent or parents work for the government in Qatar, regardless if they are Qatari citizens or not. However, Qatari nationals who work in the private sector are also given priority to enroll their children in independent schools.
Qatari families whose children attend independent schools are not required to pay any fees or additional expenses. Expat families whose children attend such schools also do not pay tuition, but they are expected to pay for additional services, such as book and bus fees.
According to Fatima Al-Suwaidi, an official at an independent school for girls, sometimes the ministry intervenes to help expat parents who work in the private sector but who are unable to afford the tuition fees at private schools.
“The ministry might step in and help the parent place their children in independent schools even if they do not work in the public sector,” she said. “These cases are rare, but the parents need to provide us with the approval from the Diwan Al Amiri [governmental headquarters of the State of Qatar].”
“The increase in tuition fees [for private schools] has reached a point where it will be soon impossible to pay them. Parents rethink having more children because of how education fees are placing a burden on them,” she added.
Independent schools used to charge tuition as well. According to Al-Suwaidi, in 2011 the Ministry of Education and Higher Education decided to introduce school fees up until the 2014-15 academic year, when independent schools became restricted to Qatari nationals and students whose families work in the public sector. At that time, tuition fees at independent middle schools cost approximately QAR 9,500 per year for both girls and boys, she added.
For the many parents in Qatar who don’t have the option of sending their kids to an independent school, the struggle to afford expensive private school fees continues. The costs only climb if their children plan on attending a private university in Qatar as well.
The Academic Bridge Program, founded in 2001, is a one-year pre-university program intended for high school students who do not currently meet the necessary academic standards to enroll in the private universities at Education City in Qatar, such as Northwestern University in Qatar, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar and the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. According to its official website, more than 90 percent of ABP graduates go on to be admitted into universities in Qatar or abroad each year.
“I was encouraged to place my son at the Academic Bridge Program in order to increase his chances into getting accepted by one of the Education City universities. But the fees were too high,” Al-Abdulla said.
Syno Jacob, executive secretary for the director at ABP, said the pre-university program tends to increase their tuition each year due to the rising cost of living in the country. Therefore, faculty have to be given an increase in salaries, she said.
Tuition costs vary between Qataris and non-Qataris at ABP. This academic year, Qataris paid QAR 57,475 while non-Qatari students paid QAR 69,575 in tuition, according to its website.
Some options exist for students that can help lower the cost of the ABP program. The Higher Education Institute, which is part of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, offers financial sponsorships to Qatari students who earned a GPA of 75 percent or higher while in high school, according to Jacob. Non-Qatari students, on the other hand, can be sponsored by private companies or organizations, known as “private payers,” Jacob said.
Private universities in Qatar, such as Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern and Georgetown, charge the same tuition as their US-based campuses. They are still considered expensive compared to Qatar University, a government-owned institution. For example, tuition at the Georgetown University in Qatar currently stands at QAR 188,778 but rises about six percent each year. Qatar University, on the other hand, charges a fee per credit hour depending on the course; these range from QR 800 to QR 1,000 per credit hour, according to the university’s official website.
Based on her experience so far, Al-Abdulla is adamant that parental awareness is crucial. “It is crucial that parents plan their finances as early as they can if they plan on placing their children in private schools and universities,” she said.