Raise in study fees in Autumn 2014

20 December 2012. In line with the Cantonal Austerity Package No. 1, the University of St.Gallen will have to save six million francs annually through 2015. This target will be met by three measures: ongoing reductions in teaching and administrative costs and additional revenue in the form of higher tuition fees.

University Council’s policy decision
At its meetings on 5 November and 10 December, the University Council discussed the actual amount and structure of future tuition fees and approved a policy decision. The cantonal government’s communication regarding the savings mentioned specific amounts for various categories of study fees. Wherever possible, the University Council opted for the lower limit of the savings targets. It is especially important that:

• Regular Swiss bachelor’s degree students are not affected by the increases.
• Home and foreign doctoral students will be exempt from the increases.
• Surcharges for the master’s level, which are due to the higher costs of this level, will only be 400 francs per year.

If the government accepts the updated fee schedule, the following study fees will be effective from 1 August 2014:

^{Long-term: more than 12 semesters}

The reason for the higher fees for foreign students is that the Canton of St.Gallen does not get contributions for foreign students. The Canton gets annual contributions in the amount of 10’100 francs for Swiss students from other cantons.

Accompanying measures
Part of the additional revenue will be invested in teaching. Additional money will go to the credit-and-scholarship fund to help pay for hardship cases. In addition, the following principles will be applied:

• During their regular course of studies on one level (bachelor/master), students will only be affected once by a tuition increase (protection of trust).
• Students for whom the tuition increase creates a hardship can submit a request for a scholarship or a study loan from the scholarship committee. Students who have to extend their course of studies because of their special involvement with HSG or for personal hardship reasons can get a remission of fees.