Newly released government reports have showed that Qatar residents have paid more tuition this year than in years before. According to Doha News, the Consumer Price Index calculated a general 11 percent hike in tuition fees, solely, which contributed to a 1.6 percent rise to cost of living in the small Gulf country. Because Qatari nationals are exempt from paying school fees, the burden is largely felt by expatriates.
CPI didn't detail if the toll included all school-levels (meaning kindergarten, high school, and university) nor did it take into account other school-related fees. The CPI, however, noted that parents who enroll their children in schools and preschools that demand parents pay full tuition at the beginning of the school year in September have experienced considerable fee hikes this year.
Private schooling costs in Qatar vary between 10,000 and 60,000 Qatari Ryals ($2,746-$16,476.5) depending on curriculum and facilities offered, and any proposal to raise fees is approved through the Supreme Education Council.
According to the director of the SEC’s Private Schools Office, in 2014, only one-third of the applications were validated with no more than a 4 percent fee increase. According to Doha News, the council makes its decision by looking at the financial situation of the school, if it had increased fees previously, as well as students' and parents' assessments of the faculty.
Schools, however, say that tuition increase is a necessity in order to cover teachers' rents, which according to a school official interviewed by Doha News, have gone up 30 percent. Schools have also been trying to accommodate rising demand as the population in Qatar increases. A recently published study for the academic year 2013-2014 by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics showed that school enrollment has seen a 5.6 percent increase, pushing authorities to build new schools and kindergartens before the coming year.