The National Council of Universities (CNU) condoned a debt of 83 million córdobas, equivalent to 2.3 million dollars, in payment of fees owed by students of the canceled Catholic University of the Dry Tropics (Ucatse), one of the ten study houses whose legal status was annulled by the regime in the last three months.
“80% of the debts corresponded to Medicine and Dentistry careers, the remaining 20% belonged to Law, Theology, Philosophy, Agribusiness, Agribusiness, Agriculture, English, Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics”, detailed the CNU in a press release.
The decision was made last February so that students can enroll in the study continuity plan executed by the CNU, after taking control of the universities canceled by the National Assembly, by order of the Ministry of the Interior (Migob). However, until now the amount of the debt is known.
tariffs were also reduced
The CNU assured that the 2700 university students enrolled in the Ucatse will pay less for the cost of registration and monthly payments. Fees went from $160 to $30, and tuition from $50 to $10.
They also announced that the 118 medical students who will start their rotating internship on March 28 will no longer be charged the $160 per month they used to pay.
The Ucatse, located in Estelí, was directed by a rectory collegiate by religious, in which Monsignor Abelardo Mata, critical of the Ortega regime, held the position of “magnificent rector.” After its legal status was canceled on February 2, it was nationalized and renamed the Francisco Luis Espinoza Pineda National University (Unflep), in honor of the founding priest.
The head of Migob’s department of registration and control of non-profit civil associations, Franya Urey Blandón, accused Ucatse and five other universities of being “not very transparent in the administration of funds”, without evidence, since allegedly this ministry does not know “the way in which they executed them and if it was in accordance with their objectives and purposes for which the National Assembly will grant them legal personality.”
The CNU also condoned the debt of the students of the National Polytechnic University (Upoli), which was canceled the same day as the UCATSE; however, it is unknown how much the amount amounted to.
CNU had reduced Ucatse’s budget
Ucatse was one of the two universities heavily punished by the governing body of the CNU, which since 2018 applied a significant reduction in the budget allocation of 6%, destined for higher education.
In January 2022, CONFIDENTIAL revealed that Ucatse and the Central American University (UCA) were only assigned one million cordobas for this year. According to the data that was accessed, in 2018 the allocation of 6% for Ucatse was 54 million córdobas, in 2020 it dropped to 32 million, in 2021 to 10 million and finally by 2022 to one million.
Given the budget reduction, the university progressively increased the cost of tuition and fees. For its part, the UCA decided to reduce the scholarships awarded for 2022 to less than a hundred. Likewise, last February it informed the scholarship students with 100%, that due to “economic limitations” from the second semester on, the university will only cover 80% of your tariffs.
Canceled universities are state, but they charge in dollars
Between December 13, 2021 and February 23, 2022, the Migob ordered the cancellation of ten private, national and international universities. Six of these were regrouped in three state universities that are controlled by the CNU.
The Ucatse became the Francisco Luis Espinoza Pineda National University. The Polytechnic University of Nicaragua (Upoli) became the National Polytechnic University (UNP).
Meanwhile, the Hispanic American University (Uhispam), the Nicaraguan University of Humanistic Studies (UNEH), the Popular University of Nicaragua (Uponic) and the Paulo Freire University (UPF) were grouped together as the Ricardo Morales Avilés National Multidisciplinary University. Although these houses of study are no longer private, students continue to pay fees in dollars.
