The parliament has already adopted the bill on Making Amendments to the RA Tax Code authored by the deputies of the National Assembly Gevorg Papoyan, Mikayel Tumasyan and Arusyak Manavazyan in the first reading. During the period from the first to the second reading, the Government submitted a proposal of a legal nature. The deputy of the Civil Contract Faction Gevorg Papoyan said about this at the sitting of the Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport on April 26.
According to the Law on Education, the universities reimburse the tuition fees of students studying in the paid education system in the amount of 10% of the number of students admitted to the free education system in the given academic year at the expense of their means, according to the progress. At the same time, pursuant to the Law on Higher and Postgraduate Professional Education, universities provide partial reimbursement of tuition fees in the form of student scholarships to at least 10% of student structures studying in the paid system in the amount of at least 7% of the budget from the students’ tuition fees at the expense of their means, taking as a basis students’ high progress and social group.
“In the Law on Education we have a requirement for universities of at least 10%, and in the Tax Code, a requirement of maximum 10%. We propose to increase the maximum requirement of 10% of the Tax Code up to 20%,” Gevorg Papoyan clarified.
According to the deputy, universities can double the number of students receiving discounts of tuition fees without increasing their tax liabilities. Students with high progress, who have social problems, who are participants of the war, or who live in border areas and have other privileges can use a privilege.
At the suggestion of the Government, if the student is a beneficiary of the system until August 1, 2024, as long as he/she is a student, he/she will continue to use it. This system will no longer work for newly admitted students after August 1, 2024. Under the new system, the Government will fund those students.
In his co-report, the RA Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Karen Trchunyan clarified that according to the new regulation, after August 1, 2024, the money will be given to the student, not to the university.
The Committee approved the debated issue.
The debate of the bill on Making Addenda to the Law on Education authored by the deputies Sisak Gabrielyan, Taguhi Ghazaryan, Knyaz Hasanov and Hasmik Hakobyan was postponed up to two months.