translated from Spanish: In general, covid-19 suspends charge of higher education tariffs

By seven votes in favour and four against, the Committee on Education of the Chamber of Deputies approved the idea of legislating the project providing for the suspension of the collection of tariffs and tuition fees and the like, by higher education institutions, during the duration of the state of emergency resulting from the covid-19 pandemic.
The body previously voted for the admissibility of the motion, considering the dismemberments that the project drew between parliamentarians, higher education institutions and the Government in the debate that took place in previous sessions and which were held until the last session, the House reported.
On this subject, the head of the Legal Department of the Higher Education Division, María Fernand Badrie, explained that the proposal departed from the constitutional mandate and that the project should be inadmissible as it corresponds to the exclusive powers of the President of the Republic.
On the other hand, the Undersecretary of Higher Education, Juan Eduardo Vargas said that they do not want to neglect the problem, but emphasized that measures have been taken to help students.
And while he stressed that there is a group of students who cannot make payments – the one that will eventually increase the pandemic – he stressed that a significant number of the study houses are taking care of the situation. To support the same, Mineduc’s authority detailed that 91% of institutions have taken steps to make tariffs more flexible. He added that the student benefit application period extended to March 27.

Original source in Spanish