Armenian gov’t to help working students pay for university tuition

The Armenian government will start compensating university tuition fees for working students – by returning income tax from their salaries.

Students studying in one of 80 different disciplines that the government considers important at the moment for the development of the country will be able to receive the tax benefits.

On June 2, the Ministry of Education announced a list of majors and disciplines in which graduate students will be compensated for tuition. In the future, it is planned to include bachelor students in this program as well.

Who is eligible?

The bill on tax compensation was approved on January 15, 2020 by the National Assembly’s Commission on Economic Issues.

The co-author of the project, the head of the ruling My Step Alliance Lilit Makunts explained the concept of the bill:

“Often our family members and parents pay for the student’s education. But students, especially in graduate school, need to be able to earn this money themselves. This will form their new attitude to study and work.”

In March, MPs of the National Assembly adopted the draft in the second and final reading.

Only Armenian citizens can use this privilege and only once, that is, to receive one specialty.

Income tax will be used to pay for training students who receive specialties in education, the humanities, art, history, philosophy, chemistry, computer science, engineering, industry production, construction, and medicine.

The Ministry of Education believes that “there are now positions in the labor market that remain vacant due to the lack of appropriate education and knowledge of the applicants.” The authors of the project say that this law will regulate the relationship between universities and the labor market.