Nouran al-Samman | Mariam Hajj Suleiman

Syrian student Mayasa, studying at Atatürk University in Turkey, experienced “two shocks” after her university’s annual tuition fee was raised by 100%. The first shock came when she received the news like other foreign students, and the second when she felt that she would deprive her brother of the opportunity to enter university due to considerations of alleviating the burdens on her father.

Many Turkish universities announced earlier last August a new increase in tuition fees for foreign students, including Atatürk University, where Mayasa studies, located in Erzurum province.

The latest increase is not an exceptional case in the education sector for foreigners in Turkey, as fees have risen multiple times in recent years.

However, the current rise in fees comes amid difficult living and economic conditions that Turkey is experiencing, which affect Syrians even more.

Turkey had exempted Syrian students from paying university fees under a decision approved in 2014.

But with the cancellation of that decision in 2020, incoming students faced challenges that have sometimes halted their academic journey.

Mayasa and Dentistry

In 2020, Mayasa paid eight thousand Turkish lira (233 US dollars) annually as tuition for the Faculty of Dentistry at Atatürk University.

Now, following the recent fee increase, she must pay 65 thousand lira annually (about 1800 US dollars), according to what she told Enab Baladi. University branch tuition fees are of great interest to Syrian students, and the fee amount is often a reason for preferring one major over another to avoid paying large sums.

What Mayasa is currently experiencing could deprive her brother of receiving a university education, as she links the reason to the “huge financial burden” that has become a factor her father faces each semester.

Turkey’s economy is experiencing inflation, and according to data released by the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TÜRK-İŞ), as of September 30, the inflation rate reached 70%.

The data shows that the poverty line for a family of four (the total amount of food costs and other monthly compulsory expenses for clothing, housing, transportation, education, health, and similar needs) has reached 64,595 lira (approximately 1880 US dollars).

Meanwhile, the average salary in Turkey does not exceed 24,000 lira (approximately 640 US dollars), according to the cost of living assessment site “Numbeo.”

Rayan, a Syrian student whose story is similar to Mayasa’s, indicated to Enab Baladi that the fee she paid in 2021 at Bülent Ecevit University in Zonguldak was ten thousand lira (291 US dollars), and she now has to pay 60 thousand lira (1700 US dollars) to continue her studies in the pharmacy department.

Rayan expressed her dissatisfaction with the exaggerated increase in these fees, stating that “many Syrian students choose to enroll in remote Turkish provinces to get lower costs, but ultimately the rise is no longer confined to one university.”

Collective efforts

The rise in tuition fees for foreign students at Turkish universities has pushed a number of them over the past months to “unite efforts” at Bülent Ecevit University.

This came in order to pressure for the largest possible reduction and to inquire about the reasons behind the fees’ increase.

Student Aqil al-Sallal explained that the first-year tuition for studying medicine at the university increased in 2024 to 150 thousand lira (4300 US dollars), while pharmacy tuition rose to 60 thousand lira (1700 US dollars), and dentistry to 80 thousand lira (2300 US dollars).

Syrian and foreign students at Bülent Ecevit University recently collected about 200 “Dilekçe” (petitions) from students, which were then submitted to the university presidency.

The university justified its position by stating that the decision to raise fees again was based on a presidential decree and could not be changed. However, after reviewing the decisions issued by the Turkish presidency, it was found that the fee increase applies only to new students in the 2025 cohort.

One of the decisions stated that “increases for older students should be limited not to exceed double the original fees.”

Nonetheless, Bülent Ecevit university recently increased the fees up to six times, which sparked widespread protests, according to the student.

Al-Sallal added that the collective efforts of foreign students compelled the university to reduce dentistry tuition from 80 thousand to 60 thousand lira, and pharmacy fees from 60 thousand to 50 thousand lira.

Meanwhile, the medical tuition was reduced from 150 thousand to 130 thousand lira.

Al-Sallal believes that “cooperation among various foreign communities was the decisive factor in pressuring the university; if it had been only the Arab students community, we would not have achieved positive results.”

Private universities cheaper than public ones

Othman Jamal, an educational consultant in Turkey, explained to Enab Baladi that the increase in public university tuition this year reached 500%.

He mentioned that registration fees at some private universities have become cheaper than those at public universities, and private institutions are now “more accepted by foreign students due to realistic fees.”

Private universities set schedules in which they display the amount of the increase in fees each year or set a fixed and clear price.

In contrast, “public universities do not clarify the percentage of the increase for foreign students when they begin,” according to the educational consultant.

Are there solutions?

Mohammed al-Sukari, President of the Syrian Student Union active in Turkey, stated that the union seeks to address the problem of rising tuition fees imposed on Syrian students in Turkey, which they started suffering from specifically after 2020.

The union formed a follow-up committee in 2022 to address this issue and has visited the Turkish Ministry of Education and met with the Director of International Students Affairs to discuss the negative effects of the fees.

Al-Sukari mentioned that the union he heads has also worked to communicate with higher authorities in Turkey, including meetings with the Turkish presidency, though this has yet to yield a solution.

He pointed out that “the issue of rising tuition fees lies in determining minimum fees without setting an upper ceiling,” which has granted universities the freedom to significantly increase fees.

Sponsorships

In addition to individual and collective efforts, some associations and civil society organizations recently launched campaigns to assist students in need of completing their education.

Among those organizations is the Molham Volunteering Team, which announced in 2023 that it has covered the tuition fees of 248 students in Turkey.

In this regard, Ruba Murad, the responsible for student sponsorships at the Sanadkom Volunteering Team, stated that the team sponsored six students at Sakarya University alone and assisted them in covering their university tuition last year.

Mohammed al-Sukari, president of the Syrian Student Union, indicated that the union managed to secure scholarships for Syrian students in coordination with the Syrian-Turkish Joint Committee and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in an effort to ease their financial burden.

But he said that “the limited financial capacity available keeps these efforts modest compared to the scale of the problem.”

According to data from the Turkish Higher Education Council (YÖK) for the 2022-2023 academic year, there are 58,213 Syrian university students, out of 301,694 foreign university students in Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on September 14 that there are approximately 340,000 international students in Turkey, during the inauguration ceremony of the Marmara University compound in Turkey.

He praised the impact of international students on Turkish society and their contribution to the economy of about three billion dollars.