Before the end of the first month of the school year,
schools in the Province and City of Buenos Aires
were authorized to apply a
new increase
in fees
that will take effect starting in April.
On the last business day of March, the authorities signed the resolutions that enable average increases of
9% in the City and 4.7% in the Province
for subsidized private education institutes in those jurisdictions.
The increase in the fee that
1.3 million Buenos Aires students and almost 300 thousand Buenos Aires students
must pay represents a new impact on household budgets. It is known that the assistance program through vouchers, promoted by the Ministry of Human Capital to help parents pay school fees, is still in the implementation stage.
The decision was made known after a claim made by the Association of Private Educational Institutes of Buenos Aires (Aiepba). The arguments were “the increase in operating costs recorded by educational centers and to guarantee the provision of quality educational services.”
In Buenos Aires there are
4,800 educational institutes that receive some state contribution
for the payment of salaries. The group of schools with "free tuition" have other costs and are not regulated. It has monthly payments that can reach 200 or 300 thousand pesos per student. Some include travel expenses.
Those who were able to apply this increase – the subsidized ones – in March
had adjusted the price by 50% compared to December.
It covers kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools throughout the territory. Starting with the new tariff table, the monthly costs will be for single-day kindergartens and primary schools,
from 16,300 to 73,900 pesos
. The variation is according to the percentage of subsidy: those with 100% aid are cheaper. At the other extreme are those who receive 40%.
Secondary schools may charge between
18,000 and 96,000 pesos
and technical or agricultural ones may charge between 20,700 and 110,000 pesos per month.
How are school fees in the City with the latest increase?
The table for the City establishes the following values: kindergartens and primary schools, from
20,700 to 95,800 pesos
; average level from
22,800 to 124,500
and techniques between
26,300 and 142,500
pesos every month.
This is not the first increase that schools apply. To start the school year, parents or guardians of students had to pay
50% more than in December in Buenos Aires and 40% more in CABA
. In most educational centers, 10 annual fees are paid.
“The increases authorized for schools subsidized by the provincial and Buenos Aires governments are below the inflation forecasts for the month of March that have been carried out by consulting firms and economic studies that have been known in recent days. Once again the authorization is below the price index. But we are going to absorb that difference from the institutions with the aim of facilitating continuity within the system for families,” said the Executive Secretary of Aiepba, Martín Zurita.
School buildings are also affected by the impact of the “rates” for services that have been in effect for three months, they say in the sector chamber. And it also impacts the cost of salaries that are not covered by subsidies (assistants, teachers of extracurricular subjects, administrative staff).
“However, the owners will continue to make the effort to maintain the services that reach more than 30% of the entire educational system,” added Zurita.
In the Province, 34% of children and adolescents attend non-state centers. In the Federal Capital there are about
400 educational institutions
and almost 50% of the enrollment in that jurisdiction attends the private system.
After the series of increases in family services that shake the economies of the middle sectors, the Government tried to mitigate that blow with an aid program.
A week ago he reported the implementation of vouchers to help pay up to 50% of the fees of subsidized private schools, with a limit of up to 27,198 pesos per student. It covers all levels of education: initial, primary and secondary schools that receive a subsidy of 75% or more and a fee that does not exceed $54,396.
According to sector estimates, in CABA and the Province of Buenos Aires, just over 940,000 parents or guardians of students
would be able to access official aid
. Not everyone would receive the maximum. And it is not an automatic procedure either.
To be eligible, the family group must have an income less than
seven times the Minimum Living and Mobile Wage
, which today represents about $1,419,600. They must complete a form available at www.argentina.gob.ar.
Registration will be enabled between April 3 and 30. And, initially, it will be used for three-month installments: May, June and July. But the March values will be taken into account. They will have to include in the presentation a CBU number where the money will be credited and specify the educational establishment that the minor attends.
The Silver. Correspondence
MG